Liya Patel –
On thursday afternoon, Floor Leader of the Red Senate Caroline Johnston from Clarksville Academy presented her group’s bill. According to the bill, it is, “An act to change Tennessee voting procedures to a ranked voting system.” A ranked voting system is a system that implements ranks for the candidates based on popularity. The candidates are picked solely by an outright majority. If there is no outright majority, then the candidate with the least votes is pulled out and their first preference votes will be given to the second preference votes.
Tennessee currently implements the plurality system. With this system, a candidate can win based on the number of votes without winning the outright majority. This has been the only voting system that Tennessee has used. A pro of using the plurality system is it gives the option of two clear parties. However, this also poses an issue because many third-party candidates don’t get the chance to gain the same popularity as the two existing parties. This was an argument that Johnston stated in her claim. With the passing of the bill, all candidates running would be able to get equal representation. The elections wouldn’t pull towards any two specific candidates. Johnston also stated that implementing this bill would not cost any money, and it would be enforced right after the bill is passed.
Alaska and Maine are the only two states that have fully built in the use of the ranked voting system in all elections. Maine became the first state to implement the ranked voting system on November 8, 2016. Alaska made the switch in 2020 and found that there was a greater voting turnout. According to, “Alaskans For Better Elections,” “Ranked-choice voting promotes fuller representation and greater accountability, as candidates know they must win the support of a majority of voters in their community, not just a narrow base.” If this bill was implemented in Tennessee, it would allow for more equal representation of all candidates running and can also increase voter turnout.
Learn more:
https://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/es/esd/esd01/esd01a/esd01a01
https://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/RCV.php
https://legislature.maine.gov/lawlibrary/ranked-choice-voting-in-maine/9509
https://ballotpedia.org/Electoral_systems_in_Tennessee
https://alaskansforbetterelections.com/about/ranked-choice-voting/
Department of Public Information 