Ranked Choice Voting Ends the "Spoiler Effect"
Skewed results
With traditional elections, a less popular candidate can throw off results. If the top two candidates are only 2% apart, then a candidate with 6% of the vote takes away votes from the top two candidates skewing the results.
Elimination rounds lead to majority winner
Ranked choice voting fixes the problem by eliminating the candidates with the lowest number of votes from the final result while including voter’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choices. So if a voter’s top choice is eliminated, they can still choose where their vote is counted in runoffs between other candidates. In the end, there is majority winner.
More candidates: Increased diversity in elections
Ranked choice voting means more candidates with more viewpoints. Moving away from a two-person race increases the chances of more diverse issues entering the Utah political dialogue. More candidates can bring their views and platforms into the race to increase the diversity of Utah elections.
"Spoiler" case studies
The case studies below give examples of elections where a candidate "spoiled" the vote leading to a non-majority win.