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Legislative Republicans are at odds over bringing final five voting and ranked-choice voting to Wisconsin. On one side, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Sen. Jesse James, R-Altoona, wants to bring both practices to the state’s congressional and U.S. Senate races. On the other side, Rep. Ty Bodden, R-Hilbert, and Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, are pushing a constitutional amendment that would outlaw both systems in the state.
Here’s what you need to know:
- What are final five voting and ranked-choice voting? Final five voting involves all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, running in the same primary election. The five candidates who receive the most votes then advance to the general election (for example, the general election ballot could feature two Republicans, two Democrats and one Libertarian). The general election then uses ranked-choice voting — sometimes referred to as “instant runoff” voting. In this system, voters rank the candidates in order of preference. After each round of counting, the candidate who receives the fewest votes is eliminated, and the voters who ranked that candidate first have their ballots redistributed based on their next choice. The process continues until one candidate receives a majority of the vote.
- Why watch? Republicans have split their votes on certain issues — such as the Milwaukee Brewers stadium — but they don’t often introduce dueling proposals. The Senate Elections Committee held a public hearing on James’ final five voting bill in December. It’s not clear if the bills will advance further in the Senate this session, but a public hearing is further than any similar proposal has gotten. A spokesperson for committee chair Sen. Dan Knodl said a committee vote on the bill has not been scheduled.
- Yea: Proponents of final five voting argue the system would help stabilize the country’s volatile politics because partisan primaries reward the most extreme candidates who must appeal to a more far-right or far-left pool of voters. Given the partisan skew of scores of congressional districts across the country, low-turnout primaries often determine the general election winner. In 2022, just 8% of U.S. voters elected 83% of U.S. House members, according to data from Unite America, a nonprofit that advocates for political reforms. Final five voting would allow more candidates to reach the general election, where a wider voter pool could reward more moderate candidates.
- Nay: Opposition to final five voting often stems from opposition to ranked-choice voting. Opponents say ranked-choice voting results in ballots being thrown out, leaving some voters without a say in an election if they don’t rank all the candidates and the ones they do rank are eliminated. In a co-sponsorship memo for their constitutional amendment, Bodden and Stroebel expressed concerns that “when many Wisconsinites are asking the Legislature to simplify the mechanics of our election system, ranked-choice voting would further complicate it with calculations that dictate outcomes that are not intuitive to every voter.”
- State of play: Alaska currently utilizes a final four primary system for its U.S. House and Senate races. Alaska and Maine use a ranked-choice voting system for some elections.
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