Democrats favor ranked choice voting for 2028 presidential election

Democratic politicians and activists are quietly lobbying to upend the way the party picks its presidential nominee by urging the use of ranked-choice voting.

According to Axios, Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin and other top party officials have met privately with advocates who are pushing for the voting method to be expanded for the 2028 presidential primaries. In November 2024, Arizona voters rejected Proposition 140. Proposition 140 would have created open primary elections in which all candidates for an office would appear on the primary election ballot, regardless of political party affiliation, similar to ranked-choice voting.

Matt Grodsky, Partner at Matters of State Strategies, and Chuck Coughlin, President of HighGround, Inc., joined “Arizona Horizon” to talk more about this ranked-choice voting.

As it stands, Arizona law requires partisan primary elections for any elected office that isn’t nonpartisan, including statewide and legislative offices. Those elections are mostly closed and limited to voters registered in that party; voters not registered with a party can vote in the primary, but must request to cast either a Democratic or a Republican ballot.

Some of this to stem from Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City mayoral election where he won in a ranked choice voting model.

However the question of why still remains. Why would you even want a ranked choice system in a primary? In theory it is more interesting, more exciting, brings more young people in and gives people more options. But as Grodsky explains “It’s a nightmare” there are so many logistical issues. There are 50 states with 50 different sets of rules. Not to mention the different state parties and delegates and their regulations.