What can ‘Star Wars’ teach us about ranked choice voting?

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(Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)
An All Terrain Armored Transport —commonly known as an AT-AT — walks Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park in the Colorado Space Grant Consortium’s Robotics Challenge, April 13, 2019.

When someone asks you to name your favorite movie, that might be impossible.

Let’s say you love “Star Wars” – but which one? You also love the Alfred Hitchcock classic, “Vertigo.” “Casablanca” is your favorite love story. And how can you turn down “The Godfather” when it makes you an offer you can’t refuse?

So, instead of asking folks to pick just one favorite among many classic films, CPR News recently asked listeners to rank their top five.

And what if we applied the same method to how we vote in elections? 

What if, instead of picking just one candidate in an election, you pick two or three… or more? That’s what Boulder’s doing for the first time in its upcoming mayoral election. It’s called ranked choice voting, which supporters say is a more democratic way to vote than the plurality voting system we’re accustomed to.

Press the “Listen Now” button at the top of the screen to see which movies got the most votes in our survey – and, at the same time, learn how ranked choice voting works.