“Currently, good candidates are discouraged from running for office because of the high barriers put in place by the Republicans and Democrats,” said a statement on the Better Party’s website. “The Better Party gives diverse and independent voices an opportunity to compete in municipal, county, state, and federal elections.” “In this system, candidates are forced to cater to the most extreme elements of our society, and a lot of that has to do with the primary system, but some of it has to do with just choices we’ve made to keep pushing those extremes,” Young said. “Social media contributes to it, our mainstream media contributes to it, but we need to break the cycle. "A bill sponsored by Republican state Sen. Ben Brown would place a question on the 2024 ballot. If passed, the constitutional amendment would permanently ban ranked choice voting in Missouri.