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Former President Donald Trump defeated former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley by a margin of 74% to 26%, the Virgin Islands Republican Party reported Thursday night.
With the Republican presidential primary narrowed from more than a dozen major candidates to just two before many states have had a chance to consider it, some voters and state parties need to change something in the process. It is claimed that there is. Dennis Lennox, executive director of the U.S. Virgin Islands Republican Party, expressed his hope. USVI’s New Approach — Ranked Choice Voting — could make a difference.
”More states should absolutely have a say in this process, and it shouldn’t just be Iowa and New Hampshire,” Lennox said.
Under this system, voters choose five candidates and rank them according to their priorities. Here’s how the votes are counted: The candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and the votes of their supporters are distributed among the top four remaining candidates based on the voters’ next choice. This process of elimination and redistribution is repeated until two candidates remain, and the candidate with the most votes wins.
“We created a fair and level playing field for each candidate,” Lennox said. “With ranked voting, there are no wasted votes and no potential spoilers.”
Even if a candidate who is not in the race is still on the ballot, that candidate’s choice will still be considered as long as voters rank the candidates who are in the race.
An estimated 5,500 voters in New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary cast wasted votes for candidates who declined, according to Fair Vote, a nonpartisan group that is pushing for more states to adopt ranked-choice voting.
“Our system is broken right now,” said Deb Ortiz, director of research and policy at FairVote. “We need a system that gives voters more voice and choice on their ballot.”
She argues that ranked-choice voting could keep more candidates in the race longer.
“Right now, our system is pushing candidates out,” she said. “There’s a lot of speculation about whether if so-and-so drops out, it’s going to help this candidate or it’s going to help another candidate. And then the candidates are kicked out before voters have a chance to speak. It will end up happening.”
In addition to the Virgin Islands, Wyoming’s Democratic primary will use ranked choice, and Alaska and Maine already use ranked choice in their primaries and general elections. Voters in both states passed initiatives to implement ranked-choice voting in statewide and federal elections.
Maine Secretary of State Shena Bellows believes this has increased voter participation and made state politics more civil.
“This requires candidates to reach out more broadly, making elections not just turnout-based elections, but persuasion elections in which candidates work seriously and try to persuade voters to rank them first. But if not first, then definitely second or third,” Bellows said.
It could also reduce the potential spoiler effect of independent or third-party candidates in general elections.
But critics of ranked-choice voting believe it could skew election results and increase voter confusion.
“Ranked-choice voting makes voting difficult and election results difficult to understand. These two things in particular undermine public confidence in the voting process,” said Jason Sneed of the Honest Elections Project. claim. Groups opposed to change. Legislatures in five states have banned ranked-choice voting: Florida, Tennessee, Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota.
Historian and George Washington University professor Matt Dallek says it’s too early to know the final outcome of the reforms.
“Reform always has unintended consequences,” says Professor Dallek. “These design methods do not mean that they will be fully translated into practice. We are still in the very early stages of experimentation and ranked choice voting in the United States.”
Still, Fairvost believes the idea will gain traction heading into the 2028 presidential election as more states consider the change.
“We’ve seen growing interest from party members and elected officials to implement ranked-choice voting,” Ortiz said. “2028 could potentially be a very crowded year for candidates from both parties.”
Voters in Nevada and Oregon will consider questions on this year’s ballots.
A growing number of cities, including New York, are also moving to ranked selection in local races.
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