WASHINGTON, D.C. WILL USE RANKED CHOICE VOTING FOR PRIMARIES AND GENERAL ELECTIONS IN 2026
WILL EASE PATH FOR MINOR PARTIES TO GAIN QUALIFIED STATUS

On December 16, the D.C. City Council voted that the District will use Ranked Choice Voting starting this year for all partisan elections.  D.C. becomes the third jurisdiction to use RCV in federal elections, following Maine (in 2018) and Alaska (in 2022).

Results from Maine and Alaska show that RCV boosts the percentage of votes cast for minor parties.  In Maine in 2020, the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate polled the highest percentage for any third party candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine history.  For President that year, the percentage for the Green Party in Maine was 1.00%.  That was the party’s best percentage in any state that year, and triple the national percentage in the states in which it was on the ballot.

In Alaska, the Alaskan Independence Party benefited from RCV in 2024, when it polled the third highest percentage for U.S. House in the party’s history, a history that goes back to 1974.  Only 2008 and 1992 were higher.

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On January 15, former Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester appeared to endorse an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate seat that is up this year.  Seth Bodnar, president of the University of Montana, may become an independent candidate for Senate this year.  The incumbent is Republican Senator Steve Daines.  See this story.

The Ohio Libertarian Party has its own primary this year.  According to this newspaper story, it is likely two Libertarians will appear on the party’s primary ballot for Governor.

This appears to be the first contested third party primary in Ohio since 1970, when the American Independent Party had a contested gubernatorial primary.  Edwin G. Lawton won that primary with 3,463 votes.  His opponent, Robert W. Annable, received 1,870.

There aren’t many minor party primaries in Ohio.  Newly-qualifying parties don’t have their own primaries.  Minor parties only have primaries in Ohio if they are in a second election year of having qualified status.  Before 2026, the last time a minor party had its own primary in Ohio was the Green Party in 2016.