Eggs, Toast & Ranked Choice Voting

Orange juice and plate of eggs in hand, State Sen. George Logan listened as his constituents heaped an issue onto his plate — changing the way voters in Connecticut elects politicians like him.

Logan, who represents Connecticut’s 17th Senate District, which includes Hamden and Ansonia, came to the Three Brothers Diner on Dixwell Avenueas he does every first Friday of the month to hear from constituents. After he made the rounds of the group of about 12, shaking each hand and greeting the mostly familiar faces, people began to put down their coffee mugs and raise their policy ideas.

This Friday, Logan listened to the merits of a policy proposal he said he had not yet heard about from constituents: ranked choice voting.

Ranked choice voting is an election system in which, instead of choosing just one candidate, voters rank their choices. Once all of the first choices are tallied, if no candidate has a majority, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated. Ballots are counted again, and any ballot that indicated the eliminated candidate first gives its vote to its second choice. That system continues until someone has a majority.

The goal is to prevent voters from having to choose between the ​“lesser of two evils,” prompt more people to seek office, and to encourage more civil dialogue among candidates (who will need lower-ranked votes from some of their opponents’ supporters in order to win). The idea has been adopted by the state of Maine and cities like San Francisco, among other communities.

New Haven Alder Steven Winter had come at the invitation of Friday coffee regular Norma Pezzini. Winter is an active member of Voter Choice CT, which advocates for ranked choice voting; Hamden’s Eben Stewart asked him to present the idea to Logan. (Read about Voter Choice CT here and here.)

Ranked choice, said Winter, would allow people to vote for the candidate they like the best without having to worry that their vote won’t count because the candidate doesn’t stand a good chance of winning. If that candidate loses, the vote is not thrown away. It simply gets transferred to the voter’s second choice.

House Bill 5820, which would establish a task force to study ranked-choice voting, passed the state legislature’s Government, Administration & Elections Committee on March 29. Among the sponsors are Hamden State Reps. Josh Elliott and Mike D’Agostino and New Haven State Rep. Roland Lemar.

Ranked-choice voting is a bipartisan issue, said Stewart, but it would be great to get more Republican co-sponsors for it.

Stewart and Winter used Logan’s 17th District as an example of how the system could work. In a primary, three Democrats ran to oppose Logan: Jorge Cabrera, Valerie Horsley, and Sean Grace. Cabrera won the primary with 39 percent, Horsley won 32 percent, and Grace captured 28 percent. If someone voted for Grace, their second choice might not be Cabrera, said Stewart, so their vote could go to Horsley instead.

Logan said he hadn’t heard the proposal yet from constituents. ​“I’ll look into it for sure,” he told those listening.

The policy could give an opening to smaller parties, said Logan, which he added would not necessarily be good or bad. He said that there are a lot of independents in his district, and the system might suit them.

“I think most people don’t like the two-party system,” replied Stewart. Making a path for smaller parties, he argued, could be a good idea. He also said ranked-choice voting would increase voter turnout because people would feel their ​“vote actually counts.”

As constituents pushed aside their toast crusts and coffee dregs to bid Logan goodbye and file out between the booths, Winter passed around a petition.

Hamden residents Maryann and Joe Triano, who sat quietly at a corner table, said they think ranked-choice voting could be a good idea, though they want to do more research. Maryann said more people need to hear about it.

Logan holds frequent gatherings like the one Friday morning throughout the district, which includes parts of Hamden and the valley. Saturday morning he plans to stop by the Acropolis Diner just up Dixwell from the Three Brothers.

Once most of the crowd had gone, Hamden Board of Ed. Member Vic Mitchell gave Logan another proposal. This one he didn’t have to think as hard about.

The request: Could Logan, an accomplished guitarist who fronts a Jimi Hendrix cover band, play the national anthem at the Hamden fireworks display?

Logan smile. Looks like Hamden might get the ​“national anthem à la Jimi Hendrix style” in July, he said.