Millions of Democratic votes were lost in the primaries. Is this the fix?

[Judi Lynn]

Americans who vote early may ‘waste’ their vote on candidates who drop out of the race. There’s an easy way to remedy that

Mohit Nair and Colin Cole

Wed 11 Mar 2020 12.07 EDT Last modified on Wed 11 Mar 2020 13.43 EDT

Across the country, millions of voters turned in early ballots for the US presidential primary elections, often voting for candidates no longer in the race on election day.

In Colorado and Texas, early voters for candidates other than Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders might have made a statement, but they didn’t have the chance to influence the primary election. Some of the estimated 20% of Californians who voted early asked for a do-over. In Minnesota, 40,000 people had reportedly cast their ballots a week before Super Tuesday – and days before Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropped out.

Just yesterday, more than a million Washington voters finally had the chance to weigh in. Unlike other states, which saw long lines and voting machine errors, the state votes by mail and has a highly engaged electorate. As a result, a significant proportion of ballots were returned early, essentially throwing away their vote.

Early voting is generally viewed as a good thing by civil rights advocates – it helps avoid errors on election day, and curbs long lines at the precinct. But voting for soon-to-be unviable candidates is not only a frustrating reality for proactive voters, but intrinsically harmful to the democratic process.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/11/ranked-choice-voting-us-primary-elections-washington