How Ranked Choice Voting Could Help Save US Democracy

Eric Bronner risked his life for eight years as a US Naval flight officer catapulting off aircraft carriers in fighter jets. But now his mission is even more daunting: Saving American democracy.

As the head of Veterans for All Voters, he’s building leverage by organizing former service members.

They’re one of the most persuasive groups still left in a nation with rampant polarization, distrust in institutions, and low social cohesion.

“Veterans are still one of the most trusted groups in America, and there's not much trust remaining,” says Bronner, who trained as a lawyer before founding his organization in 2021. “The question is, how do we mobilize some of America's most trusted messengers to help repair some of our least trusted institutions with real solutions, not with polarizing gamesmanship?”

Veterans bring an ethos forged from serving a greater pragmatic mission alongside soldiers or airmen from diverse backgrounds.

Bronner’s group aims to deploy its more than 500 nationwide volunteers to canvas in support of ballot initiatives to establish nonpartisan primary elections across the country.

They argue that in many cases, the nonpartisan primaries would be accompanied by what’s called ranked choice voting: a system in which voters choose multiple candidates according to their order of preference. Ranked choice can influence voting behavior and decision-making.

A smattering of political science research finds that such methods would unwind the political paralysis caused by the centrifugal forces spinning American politics toward extremes. Under conventional primary rules, candidates and parties are incentivized to campaign from ever-increasing left and right fringes.

About 90 percent of US congressional districts are “safe” Republican or Democratic districts, with only about 10 percent of voters, mostly partisan loyalists, participating in primaries. Whichever candidate wins the primary can therefore sail through the general election. When only highly partisan officials take office, it’s nearly impossible to work together to pass bills.

The resulting inability of Congress to pass meaningful legislation leads to ever-increasing executive power invested in the president.

No matter how poorly conceived the president’s decisions, rank-and-file Republicans—who might otherwise object to Trump’s tyrannical impulses—stay silent, fearing well-financed or Trump-backed primary challenges from the right.

Moving toward nonpartisan primaries could shift the power dynamic. Primary voters could choose their top candidates from any party. The four with the most votes advance to the general election, and then voters would each rank them in their preferred order.

That system led to innovative results in Alaska, which opted for nonpartisan primaries in 2020. In the next election, the relatively unknown state representative Mary Peltola defeated conservative firebrand Sarah Palin. It propelled a serious centrist dealmaker into the seat. This same system has enabled Alaska’s Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski to maintain her relative independence from the rest of a party almost totally defined by loyalty to the current administration. She won’t have to hurdle the angry MAGA faithful in her next primary to maintain her seat.

In one of 2024’s most viewed TED Talks, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang estimated that referendums for nonpartisan primaries could pass in 10 states if funded at $20 million per state, or $200 million total. That would come out to only 2 percent of the $10 billion estimated to be spent by parties in the 2024 cycle.

It’s a cheap price to save democracy. And it’s the vision that Bronner’s volunteers from Veterans for All Voters mobilized around last fall.

He believes former service members are a natural voice for this cause because 55 percent of post-9/11 veterans do not identify with a political party, according to a poll last fall by a veterans group. Many of them feel cast out by partisanship. Though they pledged an oath to defend the Constitution, their independence can render them disenfranchised in states that have either closed primaries or even states that allow voters to choose their party on election day.

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However, as nascent political organizers, these veterans' service organizations will have to continue snowballing momentum. Nonpartisan primary ballot initiatives only won in four out of 12 ballot initiatives in 2024, which included a new law in Washington, DC, and successfully defending Alaska’s system.

Yet there were also some close calls. In Nebraska, for instance, Navy Veteran and independent Senate candidate Dan Osborne came within six points of defeating Deb Fischer, in what was believed to be a safe GOP seat.

The structural democratic solutions poll well to voters who readily acknowledge the system is broken, Bronner noted.

“​​But then you get into the polarized environment,” he explained. “And a week before the campaign messaging comes out, the support wasn't deep or strong because we didn't connect with people's hearts to help them understand what real problems these structural solutions are solving.”

The democracy reform movement faces challenges from a system built to maintain itself. Established political parties reinforce the “Coke vs. Pepsi” two-sideism of American politics. This perspective actually limits democratic participation by discouraging Americans from fully engaging in the political process.

They weaken the checks and balances on the president’s power.

“There are a lot of things that give me hope despite how bleak things feel right now,” Bronner said. “We’re going to have a period of innovation, politically speaking. The younger generations are hungry for more choices.”

He’s also open to campaigning for innovation around term limits and campaign finance reform, which are more popular ideas so far than nonpartisan primaries.

With 61 percent of young people not identifying with a political party, generational change may also inject new vigor into democracy reform.

“We really believe we are on the front edge of a coming wave,” he said.