Forward Party Co-chair Andrew Yang’s April TED Talk, “Why American Politics Aren’t Working—and How to Fix Them,” has been recognized as one of the platform’s top ten most popular discussions of the year. In his talk, Yang examines systemic flaws in American politics and advocates for the adoption of ranked-choice voting as a key reform.
The video of his discussion, which has garnered nearly 1.5 million views to date, features Yang critiquing what he describes as America’s fundamentally flawed political “incentives.” As an example of what he means, Yang highlights the stark disparity between Congress’s low approval ratings—hovering around 15%—and the 94% re-election rate for incumbent legislators. According to Yang, this disconnect stems from gerrymandered districts and primary systems dominated by small, ideologically driven voter bases.
“So what people imagine is that our leaders have to make 51 percent of us happy in order to stay in office. The truth is that only about 10 to 12 percent of voters participate in these primaries, and these voters tend to include some of the most ideological or extreme of the bases of these parties,” Yang stated.
As a solution, Yang advocates for the adoption of nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice voting. More specifically, he explores the impact of Alaska’s top-four ranked-choice voting system, adopted as a ballot measure in 2020, as a successful example of these reforms used in action. Referencing the 2022 victories of Democrat Mary Peltola against Sarah Palin in the third round for Alaska’s sole congressional seat and Senator Lisa Murkowski, who faced opposition from the Republican base, Yang presents ranked-choice voting as a way to elevate more moderate voices and encourage political collaboration.
Yang also underscores the cost-effectiveness of electoral reform, noting that Alaska’s overhaul cost $6 million—a fraction of the $10 billion he projects will be spent on the 2024 presidential election. Additionally, he called on voters to consider advocating for similar measures, noting that 25 states allow for ballot initiatives.
Notably, Alaska’s top-four ranked-choice voting system was subject to an attempted repeal effort this election cycle. Following a narrow result in favor of retaining it, with the repeal measure failing by 737 votes, a recount is currently underway.
“If Yang and others really want every voter to be able to choose from every candidate”
Ah, but do they? Yang at least seem to just want multiple Democrat candidates to make it into the general election, and to not give a flying **** about minor parties or true independents.
“having a runoff after the general election for any race that doesn’t produce a majority winner […] A November ballot with all candidates […] shorten the election season”
Pardon my obtuseness, but how would this be different from a jungle primary (in the Louisiana sense)?
Top two, top four, or even top five systems with a jungle primary create a very high hurdle for alternative party candidates to reach a general election ballot even if the establishment parties don’t deliberately use the process to box them out. It is also still based on primaries which are always going to be a smaller number of voters than in November. A system that will allow the minority who participate in primaries to remove entire categories of candidates as choices for the majority who vote in the general election is fundamentally undemocratic and will only further entrench the Democrat/Republican duopoly.
There is no need to pair RCV with a jungle primary, the entire point of RCV is to have a process that will produce a majority winner with multiple candidates. Indeed, seven states voted on adopting RCV with a jungle primary and it was defeated in all seven. Alaska’s vote to repeal it’s RCV/Top Four system was defeated by a paper-thin margin of 767 votes and proponents are looking to try again. The only places where RCV passed were local, including in the District of Columbia, where it was not saddled with the jungle primary.
If Yang and others really want every voter to be able to choose from every candidate, there’s a path for that by ending primaries and instead having a runoff after the general election for any race that doesn’t produce a majority winner(such as occurs now in Georgia and Louisiana). A November ballot with all candidates would mean having the most choice when the most voters participate. It would also shorten the election season, which we all should want, and eliminating primaries altogether would do more than anything else to reduce the power of the establishment parties.