Ranked choice voting is an interesting concept that, on balance, may have a fatal flaw: its basic premise assumes all voters have fully vetted each candidate and then placed them into priority; I’m not sure that will pass the straight-face test.
In addition, RCV allows flooding the candidate list with those of similar political leanings in order to focus disparagement on a singular popular candidate, rather than forcing all eligible candidates to concentrate on each other; thus, with multitudes of candidates, political issues and positions, neither the candidate nor the voter has a chance to make a viable selection. Vote selection becomes confusing and indiscriminate.
If we must change, I would rather have a run-off requiring a successful candidate receive over 50 percent of the votes cast. At least then the voters would understand the candidate goes into office, truly, with majority backing.
Stephen Gorden
Yarmouth
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