An NPR program called “Radio Desk” (90.1 on the FM dial) earlier this month had me captivated. The moderator was interviewing an official who was discussing how voters in Ireland succeeded beautifully in introducing ranked-choice voting in their national elections.
This independent nation has a population about the same as New York City with all its boroughs.
Ranked-choice voting is a solution that this state and this country could use right now. If only!
If only the current slate of legislators, state and national, would consider doing something for the good of all the citizens. A fair answer to the glut of problems currently being faced.
This is how it works in Ireland or anywhere else. It starts with the primary elections, where everyone wants to get on the ballot and slug it out.
But not everyone in the U.S. (mostly) can currently get on the ballot, as it depends on the party in power and gerrymandering.
For a moment, let’s pretend that the huge roster of candidates vying next March could run. They post their paperwork and fees and have a photo taken (in Ireland at least) to accompany their name on the ballot.
That’s it. A GOP Joe Blow fights for primary dominance against a Dem Mark Smith and are listed on the ballot by drawing for numerical or alphabetical order as long as they are running for the same office.
Non-partisan all the way. Bank account sizes only buy advertising, not influence. That’s as fair as possible.
So, in Texas next March, if that were to happen, the race for U.S. Senator might include 7-10 candidates. (It’s growing every day.) At the deadline the elections commission stops the entries, prints up the ballots and waits for election day.
Citizens show up, grab a ballot and black pen, and start reading the list; they can make (about) four choices from that field of candidates, so they start ranking first, second, third and last.
The ballots get counted (by hand in Ireland but a computer would make this a breeze). Each ballot is run through the machine, and all the #1 votes are tabulated and listed. Say #1 gets 500 votes.
Same thing happens to count votes for #2 – and hey! Candidate #2 gets 402 votes as number one. Those go in a stack.
The ballots for senator get a third vote, and bam – candidate #3 gets a whopping 679 votes for first place. That’s a new stack, using the same ballots for senator. Candidate #4 gets only a paltry 97 votes for first place, so that person is cropped from the running. Still, that ballot’s earlier votes for first, second or third place can qualify.
Then the whole pile is reshuffled and lo and behold, candidate #2 surges ahead as first choice, #1 drops back, and by using every ballot to the fullest extent possible, in the radio interview example, it turned out that the incumbent who had been losing got a surge from voters using their second and third place choices, and ended up winning.
Now I don’t know all the rules, regulations and nuances in the fine print, but the fact is the 2026 elections already offer voters many multiple choices.
Not everyone belongs to either political party; many are non-affiliated or independent voters and their votes don’t count at all in states that don’t contribute to the winning number of electors.
And that’s another vote for direct elections!
Everyone’s vote should count and ranked-choice voting allows voters to choose candidates and parties independently as they should be able to, but currently can’t.
If the Texas GOP bullies their way into closing all primary elections to only party members, voters and state government loses all the way around.
Lack of competition lets monopolies take over, as is happening with the Monarchy that has developed since January 2025.
Two cases exist in the U.S. South Dakota politicians who wanted control of state politics closed their primaries and their government has been weakened, reported Joe Kirby, a longtime Republican and fourth generation South Dakotan.
The other case study is in San Francisco which adopted ranked-choice primaries in local politics, which has flourished, said the radio spokesperson.
I don’t have all the nitty gritty details on any of these examples, except noting that trying something new could solve many current problems. Remember the old bit on idiocy, “If you keep using the same solutions you’re gonna get the same old problems” applies here.
The sad news is that filing to run in any 2026 Texas primary has a deadline of Dec. 8, 2025. So, we’re all snookered for another two years -- but start thinking about the idea now anyway. Some elections that change the balance in all stages of government would be a welcome miracle! Counting every voter’s ballot choices would be another miracle!
Conservatives come in all shapes and sizes, including woke old columnists who were cradle Republicans and never needed the Ten Commandments hanging over their crib to do the right thing. We count too!