Spoiler Candidates Are Fracturing Our Republic

Washington is broken. The Founders wrote the Constitution to set up an incredible republic which for almost 250 years allowed Americans to correct course anytime they believed their government was moving too far to the left or right or losing their focus on top priorities.

Until the last five years.

In many battleground states, it is now easier to win a US Senate election or presidential electors not by convincing a majority of voters your philosophy is correct, but by using spoiler candidates to divide your opponents votes.

In the 2020 presidential election or a U.S. Senate race in the last five years, more conservative votes than liberal votes were cast  —but the Democrat won the election with less than 50% of the vote.

How could this happen? In Arizona, Nevada, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania, 268,083 conservative votes diverted from GOP candidates to a candidate other than the Republican nominee. On the other hand, only 4,941 total votes went to the liberal Green Party instead of the Democrat.

Democrats have used a woke agenda to convince all but a few progressives who voted for Jill Stein in 2016 to fall in line and vote straight-party Democrat.

At the same time, liberal out-of-state billionaires and questionable billions of dollars funneled through ActBlue funded sophisticated data targeting to convince conservatives to split the vote. The total is only 3% of 10 million conservative voters in those six states, but that is enough to swing a battleground state.

If all those votes went to either the Republican or the Democrat in the race, then it would have resulted in a 289-249 Republican president and a 51-49 Republican Senate.

Elections have consequences. The ability of liberals electing more and more liberal candidates by splitting the conservative vote destroys the incentive for rational debates.

This fact was highlighted with the recent vote on raising the debt limit. While this is usually a mostly cordial process, this was most certainly not the case this time.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies, a Democrat, compared this legislation to ransom, stating it was part of an extreme, cruel, and “MAGA-Republican'' agenda, and that passage would lead to a stock market collapse.

At the same time, Rep. John James, a Republican, said any criticism or concern about veteran or senior care funding was fearmongering and that passage of this legislation is “ a matter of national security.” Both cases aside, it’s clear thqt neither President Biden, nor Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate  Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, or any Republicans or Democrats in leadership have met thus far on this important issue.000000Long before this debate occurred, millions of frustrated Americans watched as politicians on Capitol Hill bickered among themselves rather than deliver on the solutions they voted for.

Americans from across the divide have repeatedly shown they’re sick and tired of the same career politicians running a continually dysfunctional government. That’s why they’ve continued to advocate for candidates like former President Trump or Sen. Bernie Sanders — unconventional outsiders whose main goal is to bring big change to Washington. Despite this, Washington remains broken.

One solution that could help change Washington for the better is for states to adopt Final Five voting, a system that encourages a wide range of new, fresh, grassroots candidates while aiding party unity that would help both conservatives and hard-working Americans. It’s a system comparable to the NFL playoffs, wherein the Parties can both throw their support behind their preferred candidate (think of Divisional Winners in the NFL which get a bye) but three additional independent candidates who were also in the top five vote-getters in a traditional vote of each voter casting one vote advance.

It is only in the final vote where those 268,083 conservative voters could still cast their vote for the Solidarity pro-life, Libertarian, Constitution Party but then have the option of deciding if their candidate is not in the top two if they then want their vote to transfer to the Republican or Democrat to see who gets to 50%.

This would end the contentious primary battles that begin party divisions, encourage citizen-legislators to stand up for their communities, and help return power back to the voters where it rightfully belongs. It would also prevent liberals who spend millions to take over Republican primaries and elect the weakest Republican in the race.

Not only is implementing Final Five a good solution, it’s a viable one that’s proven to work. For example, the Virginia GOP held its 2021 Republican Gubernatorial primary through a system very similar to Final Five for the first time, resulting in a primary focused on everyday issues instead of mudslinging.

Because of that, Gov. Glenn Youngkin won the party’s nomination and a unified Republican front helped to achieve his historic upset victory. Last week I saw the candidate I knew the best out of that field was Sen. Amanda Chase, and if I still lived in Virginia I could have voted for her but then listed Youngkin 2nd.

This is one of hopefully many elections in which Final Five would require a candidate to get a majority to win.

Some argue that this system would not require a true majority because not every voter will list a second choice. By that logic, NO American election is won by a majority because many people chose not to even cast a vote because they know their favorite candidate does not have a chance.

For example, if you count every Wisconsin adult eligible to vote in 2016, Donald Trump won 33% to Hillary Clinton’s 31%. By majority, we’ve always meant a majority of those who choose to vote.

Washington is broken, no doubt about it, but Americans are ready for change. That’s why the Final Five is gaining momentum across our Republic as a system that unifies political conservatives and liberals into a binary choice. This encourages focusing on common-sense solutions to everyday issues, and positions grassroots candidates, as well as hard-working families, for success.