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BOSTON From Ross Perot's Reform Party in the 1990s presidential elections to Ralph Nader's bid for the presidency on the Green Party ticket in 2000, third-party candidates are often called spoilers who siphon votes from a Democratic or Republican candidate and help tip the race to their opponent.

It's happened locally, in 6th Congressional District race in 2012, when Democrat John Tierney squeaked out a win with 48% of the vote and Republican Richard Tisei came in second with 47%. Libertarian candidate Dan Fishman placed a distant third, but peeled away 4.5% of the vote.

Third-parties blame the "winner-take-all" voting system, in part, for marginalizing their candidates. Many pin their hopes for a better showing in the future to a proposal on the November ballot to switch to a "ranked choice" system that asks voters to weigh candidates in order of preference.

"I definitely think it would help us as a party," said Christina Crawford, treasurer and former chairwoman of the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts, which has endorsed the changes. "We will start getting more votes, and because of that I think we'll see more people interested in running for office as Libertarians."

Crawford believes so strongly in the cause she has contributed more than $17,000 of her own money into the Yes on 2 campaign.

Question 2 on the Nov. 3 ballot, if approved, would upend how the state has chosen congressional, state and municipal leaders for hundreds of years. Ballots would look different, voters would have do more homework, and close races might not be decided on Election Day.

Under the system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the last-place candidate is removed from the running and votes for that candidate are redistributed based on their supporters' second choices.

This "instant runoff" process repeats until one candidate has picked up more than 50% of the vote.

While some cities, including San Francisco and Cambridge, have used ranked choice voting for years, Maine is the only state to make the switch broadly. It will use ranked choice in the Nov. 3 presidential election, after the state's Supreme Judicial Court rejected a GOP-led effort aimed at preventing its use.

Driven by voter dissatisfaction with the two major parties, Libertarians have seen a surge in numbers in recent years, even as other parties shrink. Despite that, Libertarian candidates have yet to win any federal or statewide offices and have performed poorly in recent elections.

Supporters of ranked choice say it will essentially break the two-party hold on elections, giving Libertarians and other third-party candidates a better chance.

Critics of ranked choice voting say the changes will only redistribute votes among Republican or Democratic candidates and won't benefit third parties.

They also criticize the system as confusing.

"Libertarians have this fantasy that ranked choice voting is going to deliver them to the promised land," said Anthony Amore, a 2018 Republican nominee for secretary of state and interim spokesman for the No on 2 committee. "When, in fact, nowhere has it ever elevated a third party."

Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse forThe Salem News and its sisternewspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhi.com.

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Third parties pin hopes on ranked choice voting - The Salem News