Nevada GOP Treasurer Candidate’s Support for Ranked Choice Voting Questioned

Commentary

A Republican candidate for Nevada State Treasurer is drawing scrutiny from conservatives over his past support for ranked-choice voting, a system Nevada voters rejected just two years ago.

Drew Johnson, who is running in the Republican primary for statewide office, co-authored a 2022 policy study promoting ranked-choice voting as a possible improvement to presidential primaries.

The study, published by the Washington-based R Street Institute, argued that ranked choice voting could produce “more representative results” and reduce the impact of so-called “wasted votes” when candidates drop out during primary elections.

The position now raises eyebrows among some Republicans in Nevada, where voters rejected the election system in 2024 after a heated statewide debate.

Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference rather than selecting just one. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes gets eliminated, and their ballots become reallocated to the voters’ next choices.

The process continues until one candidate reaches a majority of ballots. Critics argue the system can produce confusing outcomes, including situations where the candidate who leads on election night does not ultimately win after later rounds of vote redistribution.

Polling has shown strong skepticism among Republican voters. A 2023 Rasmussen survey found that only 27 percent of Republicans support ranked choice voting, while 56 percent oppose it.

Supporters, however, argue that the system encourages broader coalition-building and ensures that winning candidates have majority support.

Johnson’s study focused on presidential primaries, suggesting that ranked-choice voting could help voters express their preferences among a crowded field of candidates without fear of wasting their vote if their preferred candidate were to drop out of the race.

Written in 2022, the paper came before Nevada’s ballot fight over the issue. It did not address Nevada’s later statewide debate. Still, the policy stance could become an issue in the Republican primary as Johnson campaigns as a conservative candidate in a state where GOP voters have largely rejected the idea.

For some party activists, the question is straightforward: why would a conservative Republican support ranked choice voting at all, particularly after Nevada voters have already weighed in against it?