More states are pushing ranked-choice voting after a huge year
Ranked-choice vote is in vogue. This past year was not only a record-breaking one. expansion There has been an increase in the popularity of ranked-choice systems, but also a greater interest in having it enacted more widely. At least 14 states’ legislatures will now consider legislation that would allow them to move towards this increasingly popular model in 2023.
Voters identify their first choice on their ballots and rank them in order of preference. If no candidate gets a majority vote on the first count, then the election goes to an instant runoff. The candidate with the fewest votes gets eliminated, and ballots cast for that candidate are recast for voters’ second choices. This process continues until a candidate has won a majority.
Supporters of ranked-choice vote have long said the setup benefits moderate candidates who don’t play to either party’s fringe and work instead to appeal to the broadest number of people.
Both major parties appear to be listening to the argument.
Two weeks into 2023, 14 states lawmakers have filed, prefiled and filed 27 bills proposing various iterations for ranked-choice vote, according to a NBC News review.
Some bills would implement the system for both statewide elections and federal elections, while others would limit its use to primary elections. Some bills in states only propose ranked choice voting for local elections. Others offer a temporary pilot program that would allow for the testing of ranked choice voting for a set number of years.
The increasing number and quality of ranked-choice votes is a clear indication that there is a growing trend in elections throughout the country.
“This year we’re already seeing a lot of state legislation, and we’re going to see a lot more,” said Rob Richie, the president and CEO of FairVote, a national nonpartisan group that has for decades worked to advance the use of ranked-choice voting in the U.S. “Some of it will pass.”
Virginia is an example of this. Four state legislators are from each major. parties Last week introduced Bills that would Advance ranked-choice You can vote in your state. Two would allow it for presidential primaries, starting in 2024, one would allow it for any primary elections and one would expand the state’s current ranked-choice pilot program for use in all local elections.
Virginia lawmakers created a pilot program to allow ranked-choice voting for local elections from 2020 through 2031. Only a few localities have used this system so far. In 2021, the state GOP used ranked-choice voting to elect a nominee for gubernatorial office. The system allows candidates with broad appeal to all voters to be elected more easily. Glenn Youngkin won the general election.
“Advocates all over the country use the GOP nominating contest in Virginia as a prominent successful test case. And that’s important because sometimes it gets painted as a progressive issue, and it’s really not. It really benefits both parties, and that’s such a good example of it being used on the right,” said Liz White, the executive director of UpVote Virginia, a nonpartisan election reform organization that supports ranked-choice voting.
“It really appears that both parties in Virginia are moving steadily down a road toward accepting RCV on a wider scale,” White said.
Connecticut state Rep. Keith Denning is a Democrat. a bill This would establish a ranked choice voting system for all state- and federal elections. Rep. David Michel, a Democrat, introduced the bill. a bill It would allow ranked choice voting in all local or municipal elections.
Montana and Oklahoma lawmakers introduced bills to allow officials to implement ranked-choice voting in all elections. Wyoming legislators would be able to adopt them. proposed The state created a pilot program to use it in local and municipality elections.
Massachusetts and Maryland have bills that would allow certain towns and cities to use ranked choice voting in their elections. Bills in Massachusetts and Maryland are not applicable. Missouri New Hampshire It would set the stage for future legislation to allow the use and regulation of ranked-choice voting.
A bill Oregon proposes ranked-choice vote in state and federal elections. bill New Jersey proposes that it be used in all elections in the state. bill would All nonpartisan primary elections should be changed to a ranked choice voting system.
Additionally, local ballot measures that allow voters to direct vote on whether to implement ranked-choice in local elections have been filed and are set to be implemented in 2023. They are located in Redondo Beach, California and Burlington Vermont. Both measures are due to be voted upon in March.
Arizona policymakers are also discussing the possibility of ranked-choice balloting. as a possible way of curbing extremism.
“This is going to be a year of progress,” FairVote’s Richie said.
Ranked-choice voting advocates like Richie say they’re amped about that progress and continue to argue that the system changes politics for the better by incentivizing candidates to avoid pandering to their bases and going negative. They say that’s because those candidates must continue to appeal to voters as a second, third or even fourth choice in elections given the way most ranked-choice voting models function.
“It’s very simple where the virtues come from. If you’re limited to a single choice, your overt engagement with a field of candidates is limited to that single choice. When you get sucked into a single option, you lose your ability to think. But when you’re given the opportunity to consider multiple candidates, you’re expanding the number of reasons for engagement to happen, for conversations to happen.”
After a year marked by growing enthusiasm for ranked choice voting, the latest wave of legislation is being proposed. FairVote reports that in 2022, 25 states had introduced legislation to expand or advance ranked-choice vote, with six bills being enacted in six of them. Voters in eight jurisdictions passed ballot measures adopting ranked-choice voting. This included Nevada, where voters could vote ranked-choice. approved A citizen-led constitutional amendment can be instituted ranked-choice voting in all statewide general elections Except for the presidential election. The measure must be passed again by Nevada law in order to take effect in 2024.
Alaska became the second US state to use ranked choice voting in state or federal elections in 2022. Maine has also used the system in state, and federal elections. since 2018), and the number of cities and towns that switched to ranked-choice voting grew to more than 50.
In many states, some of the purported strengths of the system promised by supporters — such as a rejection of polarizing candidates — came to fruition. In Alaska, for example, where ranked-choice voting was used for the first time in the state’s Senate and congressional races, voters chose incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski Mary Peltola to those offices, over more extreme candidates
“Ranked-choice voting forces candidates to build coalitions and appeal to people they’re not used to appealing to,” said White, of UpVote Virginia. “And it forces voters to do the same with candidates they may not have otherwise taken a look at.”
This article was originally published by NBCNews.com