Experiment. Learn. Adapt.: Ranked Choice Voting in the 2024 AGU Elections

AGU is an organization committed to a culture of Experiment / Learn / Adapt. In response to voter input over many elections, the Leadership Development / Governance Committee chose to test ranked choice voting in 4 elections – International Secretary, Board Director, Council Students and Council Early Career Scientists.

In case you’re not familiar, this is an increasingly popular electoral system that allows voters to rank candidates by preference, meaning a voter can submit ballots that list not only their first-choice candidate for a position but also their second, third, and so on. Ranked choice voting aligns with the ethos of our Strategic Plan making more solidly strong and real the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusivity for AGU and the larger culture of science.

The committee has interviewed each candidate on the Board ballot and they are all strong. Each of them would serve AGU well. Committee members feel strongly that this is the ideal time to test a potential improvement in our election processes. So, how will this work?

Ranked-choice voting is an electoral system that allows people to vote for multiple candidates in order of preference. Instead of just choosing who you want to win from AGU’s traditional paired slate, you will fill out the ballot saying who is your first choice, second choice or third choice (or more as needed) for each position.

The candidate with more than half of first-choice votes wins outright. If no candidate gets a majority of first-choice votes, then it triggers a new counting process. The candidate who got the least number of first-choice votes is eliminated and that candidate’s voters’ ballots are redistributed to their second-choice pick. In other words, if you ranked a candidate as your first choice and the candidate is eliminated, then your vote still counts: it just moves to your second-choice candidate. That process continues until there is a candidate who has the majority of votes.

Ranked choice voting has been adopted in Alaska, Maine and many U.S. municipalities. Among the countries that have implemented ranked-choice systems nationwide are Australia, New Zealand, Malta and Ireland.

The other experiment we are conducting this year is to have both president-elect candidates elected to the Board, one as the president-elect and one as a director. In 2016, the committee started interviewing all Board candidates which gives them great insight into who is the best fit for not only the work but also the ability of the Board as a whole to function well as a team. It is an area of concern for committee members that, after a rigorous process, one of the candidates selected for the highest office of AGU is not elected to the Board at all, thereby leaving top talent on the table. The experiment this year addresses that concern as the Leadership Development / Governance Committee is confident that both candidates will be excellent Board members and the voters will determine who will serve as president-elect. The candidates themselves support this approach. When we look back at the president-elect candidates for the past 4 elections, we feel this to be true of all president-elect candidates, half of whom had been Board directors.

The Leadership Development / Governance Committee brings diverse perspectives and AGU leadership experience including serving on the AGU Board. I serve as chair and members are Betty Johnson, Carol Finn, Denise Hills, Jenny Riker, Regu Angappan and Wonsuh Song, supported by staff partners Janice Lachance and Cheryl Enderlein. This is an outstanding committee and has at once demonstrated allegiance to AGU’s values and Strategic Plan as well as also courage in testing these potential improvements to elections.

Once the decision was made to test new things this year, Janice, Cheryl and I met with AGU President Lisa Graumlich and AGU President-elect Brandon Jones to explain our thinking and get their input. They were very supportive of the experiments outlined and to be clear, the candidate names were not shared at that time.

As a past Board member myself, I’m grateful for AGU’s culture of growth and improvement. We look forward to an exciting election and learning from it. Please vote and encourage others to do the same.

Rick Murray
Chair, Leadership Development / Governance Committee