How the ugly 2016 presidential election could change the way we vote in future ones

Maine thinks it has found a better way. This month, voters there made Maine the first state in the nation to approve ranked-choice voting. Instead of voting for only one candidate, with the top candidate winning, voters rank their choices from favorite to least. If one candidate doesn’t get a majority of the votes, then the candidates ranked the lowest are eliminated, and voters rank their choices again, and on it goes until one candidate gets a majority of the votes.

Supporters of ranked-choice voting say it prevents candidates who don’t get a majority of the vote from winning. (Voting reformers note that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a historically large margin of 1.7 million votes and counting. In Maine, Gov. Paul LePage (R) won his first election in 2010 with 38 percent of the vote.)

Governing magazine has a more in-depth explainer on ranked-choice voting. But, suffice it to say, it would mark a big shift from the way most of us vote. A handful of municipalities around the country do it, but if the first statewide experiment goes well (and there are a lot of hurdles, such as teaching people how it works), it’s possible other states could give it a try.