THE MIDTERM ELECTION season is already underway, with a great deal at stake. In the face of the rush of political ads, phone calls, debates, and more, I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s timeless words that the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). These fruits, or virtues, don’t easily translate into the messiness of politics, but they are desperately needed today. Sadly, our electoral system increasingly rewards and perpetuates antithetical “fruits”—such as contempt, vitriol, hate for the “other side,” and fear. The root causes include media echo chambers, gerrymandered districts, disinformation promulgated on social media, and partisan primaries—the negative aspects of which receive precious little attention. Until we change the perverted incentives that have become hardwired into our electoral system, our politics will remain stuck in a vicious cycle of acrimony and stalemate.
A March 2021 report from Unite America—an organization working to enact electoral reforms that it argues would disincentivize ideologically extreme candidates—reveals that despite record turnout in the 2020 general election, 83 percent of congressional seats were decided by a mere 10 percent of eligible voters. This is because as many as 361 of 435 congressional districts contain such a disproportionate number of either Republicans or Democrats that the outcome of general elections is never in doubt—making low-turnout partisan primaries the true contests to determine those seats. There is some evidence that partisan primaries in “safe” Republican or Democratic districts tend to attract the most ideologically extreme voters, which in turn rewards the most ideologically extreme candidates. This dynamic feeds on itself, making Congress more polarized by giving members fewer incentives to work across the aisle. This process rewards incendiary rhetoric that appeals to the most extreme voters, contributing to the ever-worsening toxic polarization in our culture and beyond.
Two promising reforms provide vital antidotes: nonpartisan primaries and ranked choice voting for general elections. A nonpartisan primary means all candidates seeking a particular office, regardless of party, are on the same ballot in the primary, and the top two (or the top four) vote-getters advance to the general election. Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, which makes it less likely that a candidate most voters abhor will win.
This year, Alaska will become the first state to use both a nonpartisan primary system and ranked choice general election voting. The hope is that these two tools will give voters much more choice and control over who represents them and that over time this will reduce toxic polarization among both politicians and voters. Now is the time to pass these reforms in more states and localities to encourage elected officials to embody the types of fruits that will advance the common good, foster healing, and enable all to thrive.
Rev. Adam Russell Taylor is president of Sojourners and author of A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community. Follow him on Bluesky @revadamtaylor.
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