In most elections in the United States, we have "first past the post voting" in which whoever gets the most votes wins. As much as this _sounds_ okay, it's a bad system because you can easily end up with a situation in which voters get someone they didn't want.
A January 2026 poll of Michigan voters show the 3-way race for governor being exactly the scenario in which RCV would be a huge help:
- Benson: 32.2%
- James: 33.8%
- Duggan: 26.1%
You end up with someone winning with less than 34% of the vote. Head to head between just Benson and James:
Benson: 46.5% James: 44.6%
So, voters would prefer Benson to James but could end up with James because of Duggan being in the race. With RCV, Duggan voters could put Benson as their second choice, allowing her to win the election. You could even end up with a scenario in which Duggan wins because people who wouldn’t normally vote for an independent would do so.
Regardless, if the election happened today and this poll matched the result, we’d end up with a governor who was not wanted by most voters, which is a clearly incorrect result.