HOUSTON — Harris County’s top election official said Wednesday she would like to see a new system that might help avoid runoffs altogether and save taxpayers' money.
The state of Maine and several U.S. cities already use that system, known as ranked-choice voting.
“What it amounts to is an instant runoff,” Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman said.
With this method, voters rank their choices on the ballot in races with more than two candidates.
“First, second, third, fourth, however many ever their candidates are, and that makes an automatic runoff,” Trautman said.
Under the current system in Texas, if none of the candidates in a race earn more than 50% of votes, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff.
Dr. David Branham, a political science professor at the University of Houston-Downtown, says ranked-choice voting could change the outcomes of some contests.
“Sometimes a runoff election doesn’t bring the candidate that’s the most favored candidate out,” Branham said.
Branham said Democrats typically turn out less than Republicans in runoff elections.
“I don’t think it’s going to pass at the state level because I think most Republicans would rather go ahead and have the runoff election,” Branham said.
Texas lawmakers would have to approve that change.
For the 2020 Super Tuesday Texas primaries, long ballots and contested races in Harris County mean runoff elections are almost guaranteed.
Trautman said more than 12,000 people voted in person Tuesday, the first day of early voting.
“This same time in the 2016 primary, a little over 7,000, so almost doubled,” she said.
Early voting for the primaries runs through Feb. 28. Election Day is Tuesday, March 3.
The Texas primary election runoffs, if needed, will be held Tuesday, May 26.