Boston's District 7 Election Shows Why We Need Ranked Choice Voting

| Edwyn Shoemaker | MySouthEnd.com: Opinion |

Boston's recent District 7 preliminary was a perfect reminder of why we need Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in our city elections. Eleven candidates ran. The top two squeaked by with less than a third of the vote combined. The third-place finisher missed advancing by just 17 votes and has already called for a recount. That's not a recipe for voter confidence.

More reason to turn out

What Boston's Home Rule Petition would do is simple: instead of sending just two candidates to the general election, four would advance. That means far more voters would see their preferred candidate on the November ballot, giving them more reason to turn out. And by allowing voters to rank those four options in the general election, RCV would ensure the winner reflects the majority will of the people.

Edwyn Shoemaker, is the Executive Director at Voter Choice MA

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