Liz White: How to fix the broken political system that led to a Speaker-less House

How to fix the broken political system that led to a Speaker-less House Liz White, Virginia Mercury (VA) (11/2) “It didn’t have to be this hard. While our legislature was leaderless, Canada’s House of Commons replaced their Speaker quickly using ranked choice voting.”

Well, we finally have a new Speaker of the House of Representatives. After more than three weeks of intra-party strife, Republicans voted unanimously to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

This marks the longest period of time (mid-session) that the House has ever gone without a Speaker. This rudderlessness in our most powerful governing body would be deeply concerning at any time, but we are currently facing multiple international crises, which highlights the global impact of our democracy’s failing health. 

No matter what you think the United States’ role in the ongoing conflicts should be, we can generally agree that a functioning government is needed to respond effectively. And our government has been unable to move forward on any response so far.

(It didn’t have to be this hard. While our legislature was leaderless, Canada’s House of Commons replaced their Speaker quickly using ranked choice voting.)

How did we get here? Most Americans agree that the health of our democracy is in decline. Some reminisce about the “good old days” of Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill and civil discourse. They remember when the two parties had disagreements, but weren’t necessarily disagreeable, with conversations being far more productive than they are today. 

Several things have changed since the Reagan administration which have exacerbated this division –  gerrymandering, tribalism, social media  – but one of the biggest is that legislators typically aren’t incentivized to come together. There’s no motivation to solve the problem,  not when the same conflicts can be used for fundraising fodder in the next election.

It’s not a big leap to trace much of this backwards incentive structure. Unite America talks about The Primary Problem, or “how a small minority of voters wind up deciding the vast majority of US House in partisan primary elections.” The current winner-take-all approach to primaries allows divisive, polarizing candidates to win the nomination in non-competitive districts and thereby get elected while only being accountable to a small fraction of voters on their party’s flank. 

According to FairVote, 6 out of the 8 House members who ousted Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy were first nominated without the majority of voter support. Ringleader Matt Gaetz was nominated with only 36% of the primary vote. He can be disruptive without repercussions because the majority of voters in his district have no mechanism by which to hold him accountable.

By requiring majority support from voters in order to win an election, ranked-choice voting prevents polarizing candidates from getting elected. There’s no guarantee, but if 36% is your ceiling, you’re not headed to Congress under a ranked-choice voting system.

Ranked-choice voting is set up to elect candidates who build consensus and seek solutions. It restores the incentive structure that rewards compromise, conversation and nuance. It would produce the kinds of leaders who could look at the daunting situations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and put their heads together to parse these complicated conflicts. It elects the kinds of leaders we need at this pivotal point in our own history. 

Working on democracy reforms like ranked-choice voting can sometimes feel abstract or merely academic, but it’s times like these that expose a desperate need for a new way to select and motivate our leaders and illustrate the global impact of our efforts. Here in Virginia, we see adopting RCV in party primaries and in local elections as a practicable and concrete step toward progress in this regard. We’ve found that the more people learn about RCV, the more people like it, and we’ll keep working to make these changes in the coming months.

Learn more about Ranked Choice Voting and sign our RCV Petition.