With more and more candidates running for political offices in the upcoming 2020 General Election, the probability that a candidate will win with a minority of support grows larger. This is because many voters are limited to one choice, and voters will either choose the their preferred candidate who might not have a great chance or a candidate who they don't want, but aligns more with their preferences than the "other one". This is called the spoiler effect and it is a result of the First-Past-the-Post voting system we use in the United States.

However, there is a way to reduce this and optimize voter satisfaction. By allowing voters to number their preferences in order and having their vote go to their next favorite, should their higher preferences be the least voted for candidate overall, voters can be assured that their vote is still counted for their most preferred candidate. This is called ranked-choice voting, and is already practiced in Australia, New Zealand, and even Maine in the US.

We've seen the direct consequences of FPTP in Arizona elections. In the 2016 5th Congressional District election, Rep. Andy Biggs won the Republican nomination with only 29.5% of the vote, over 3 other candidates. The lowest percentage a candidate got was 20.3%, meaning a fifth of Republican voters in that district did not get to have any preferred candidate and were forced to choose for the nominee or someone else. In the 2018 2nd Congressional District election, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick won the Democratic nomination with a minority of overall votes against 6 other candidates.

As the candidates and campaigns line up for the next primary season, let's give voters a chance to vote for what's closest to their interests, and not tie them down to whomever has more people on their team at the end of the day. We are voting to run our country and our state. We should organize our electoral process as such.