Hannah Liu, Contributing Photographer

Students and speakers discussed political polarization and electoral reform at a panel held Monday evening by Yale Students for Ranked-Choice Voting — a nonpartisan political advocacy group.

Adam Wood, a strategist with the organization Connecticut Voters First, and Monte Frank, the chair of the group’s advisors council and a former Independent candidate for Connecticut lieutenant governor, presented in favor of ranked-choice voting and answered questions from students.

“Ranked-choice voting is a game changer,” Frank said. “It encourages positive campaigning and candidates who are more consensus-driven, who want to appeal to a broad base of constituents and solve problems.”

Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank their chosen candidates by preference rather than casting one vote for their top candidate.

Proponents of the election system claim that it encourages voter turnout and decreases partisan polarization by promoting issue-based campaigns, while skeptics of ranked-choice voting question its effectiveness and perceived complexity.

Wood said ranked-choice voting is increasingly relevant at a time when many people are dissuaded from both running for public office and voting. The two panelists criticized current voting systems for unnecessarily pitting parties and candidates against one another.

“There are a lot of voices, at Yale and in Connecticut, on all parts of the political spectrum, so it’s really important to foster this kind of dialogue about, how can we be respectful and responsible about sharing our beliefs and understanding others?” Brenden Stremler ’29, the secretary of Yale Students for RCV, said.

In addition to ranked-choice voting, Wood and Frank highlighted other kinds of electoral reform that they said help foster voter participation and accessibility, including open primaries and no-excuse absentee ballot voting.

While answering questions, the panelists mentioned Connecticut’s Citizens Election Program, a public financing program that Wood described as leveling the playing field for candidates. They also touched on the challenges of collaboration across states in getting ranked-choice voting implemented in state and federal legislation.

“This event really clarified to me how ranked-choice voting fits into a broader landscape of different political things,” Aster Jin ’28 said. “I hadn’t really thought about it in the context of, for example, gun violence and climate change, so that really opened up new ways to think about how this is helpful to not just depolarization, but specific issues and hot topic debates.”

Yale Students for RCV works closely with Connecticut Voters First, which champions the election method.

Last spring, Yale Students for RCV Chair Alden Okoh-Aduako ’28 represented the group in a lobbying effort alongside Yale Democrats and eight other student groups. They visited the State Capitol and lobbied for Senate Bill 1536, which would have helped to redesign ballots with ranked-choice voting.

“Our goal is to educate Yale and the wider public about ranked choice voting and its benefits and the necessity for it,” Okoh-Aduako said.

Through panel events and other local opportunities, Yale Students for RCV seeks to promote increased conversation about electoral reform and promote ranked-choice voting as a means to strengthen democracy.

“What we’re seeing in the current political landscape is essentially polarization increasing across the board among the public, among elected officials,” Okoh-Aduako said. “Improving the system in ways that promote conversation and make the system itself more representative of people’s true preferences is very important in addressing this issue.”

The state Senate tabled S.B. 1536 in May.