Resolution 1022 – Support Ranked Choice Voting for Presidential Primaries

WHEREAS 25% of Washington State’s Democratic presidential primary voters effectively “wasted” their vote in 2020, because they cast their ballot for a candidate who dropped out of the race before Election Day^1,2;

WHEREAS Washington State had the highest rate of “wasted” votes in the nation³;

WHEREAS Ranked Choice Voting solves this problem of wasted votes by allowing voters to list their backup choice in case their first choice drops out or doesn’t reach the threshold for allocating delegates;

WHEREAS the Democratic National Committee approved every Ranked Choice Voting delegate selection plan submitted in the most recent presidential cycle, and Maine is compelled by state law to use Ranked Choice Voting in their 2024 state-run presidential primary; and

WHEREAS the Washington State Democratic Party Platform calls for “ranked choice primary voting to be implemented to determine the two candidates who advance to the general election for federal, statewide, legislative, and local offices;”⁴

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Washington State Democrats Central Committee calls on the Washington state legislature to enact legislation that will allow voters to rank their choices in the presidential primary, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to our representatives in the legislature, to the Secretary of State, and to the Governor.

1. https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election_in_Washington,_2020
2. Only Biden (37.9%), Sanders (36.4%), and Gabbard (0.8%) were still in the race on March 10, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Democratic_Party_presidential_candidates
3. https://fairvoteaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Dems-Wasted-Votes-Doc_22-for-Will-1187×1536.jpg 
4. https://www.wa-democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2022-Washington-State-Democrats-Platform-Passed-6-25-2022.pdf  Lines 1282-3.