WA State Dems once again attempting to implement Ranked-Choice Voting
Educate. Advocate. Mitigate. Activate!
We should not be surprised that the Washington State Democrats in the legislature want to try again to implement Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) with HB 1448 and SB 5035. Be forewarned: RCV aka Alternate Choice Voting, Instant Runoff Voting, Preferential Voting, Rigged Choice Voting and Racist Choice Voting are just more ways to manipulate election results!
How ranked-choice voting works:
With RCV voters must rank candidates in order of preference, rather than choosing just one candidate. Voters choose their first, second, and third choice, sometimes even more…
RCV elections go through a complex, multistage process. If no single candidate receives over 50% of the total votes in the first round, those who voted for the least popular candidates have their votes reassigned to their second and subsequent choices until someone reaches 50% of the remaining votes.
There are many variations of RCV. Some more complicated than others. Broadly speaking, the most common ranked-choice voting process used is as follows:
Voters rank the candidates for a given office by preference on their ballots.
If a candidate wins an outright majority of first-preference votes (i.e., 50% plus one), he or she will be declared the winner - this is difficult with several candidates.
If no candidate wins an outright majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated.
All first-preference votes for the failed candidate are eliminated, and second-preference choices on these ballots are then counted as first-preference.
A new tally is conducted via a machine algorithm to determine a winner.
Problems with RCV:
Disenfranchises the voter! If there are five names on a ballot, and you only ranked three who are eliminated, your now-blank ballot wouldn’t be counted in the final vote at all. You will not have expressed any choice about the two leading candidates.
Expensive! Switching to a different election system invokes multiple costs, from spending money on voter education, to redesigning longer more complicated ballots.
Difficult to audit! Many county auditors have reported that RCV is a nightmare to administer and virtually impossible to audit.
Very confusing! RCV is NOT easily understood by the average voter. With RCV there is always a steep new learning curve that comes with its adoption.
Harms minority groups! Many voters, including those in the African American and Hispanic communities, have complained that they do not understand the confusing ballots and RCV rules. Also, Nolan McCarty, a public affairs professor at Princeton University, found that RCV "disproportionately decreases the representation and electoral influence of minority voters." In his study, McCarty wrote that "minority electorates may be negatively impacted by the adoption of ranked-choice voting," as it "may dilute minority voter influence to the extent to which those voters exhaust their ballots by failing to rank the majority-group candidates."
Easy to rig! In Alaska’s 2022 RCV special election, despite Republicans receiving nearly 59% of the vote in a known long-time Republican Congressional district, a Democrat somehow won the AK At-large Congressional seat. Republican Nick Begich was eliminated in the 1st round with 27.8% of the votes. Republican Sarah Palin had 30.9%, and Democrat Mary Peltola had 39.7%. After 2nd place votes were tallied, Peltola got 51.5% of the votes, and Palin had 48.5%. Most voters wanted to support a Republican, but got a Democrat representing them because of RCV!
Suppresses the voter! In another example, Loren Taylor lost the 2022 Oakland, CA mayoral election after 9 rounds of eliminations using RCV. Taylor had the most first-choice votes of the 10 candidates, but it only netted him 33% of the total. Ultimately, Sheng Thao won in the following 8 rounds of counting, eventually putting her over 50%. During his concession speech, Taylor criticized ranked-choice voting, saying “it isn’t working, and it is a form of voter suppression because there were thousands of exhausted ballots”—cases where voters didn’t select either of the final two mayoral candidates as one of their choices, and so were not included in the final runoff tabulations.
Banned! RCV is so bad it has been prohibited in eleven states that have adopted laws not allowing the use of RCV in any manner in any elections!
States Prohibiting RCV:
Alabama
Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed SB 1886 into law on May 10, 2024. The law states, "Ranked-choice voting shall not be used in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal office."
Florida
S 524 was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis (R) on April 26, 2022. The law states, "A ranked-choice voting method ... may not be used in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office in this state."
Idaho
H 179 was signed into law by Governor Brad Little (R) on March 24, 2023. The law says, "No county elections office shall use ranked choice voting or instant runoff voting to conduct an election or nomination of any candidate in this state for any local govern- ment, statewide, or federal elective office."
Kentucky
HB 44 became law after the Kentucky General Assembly successfully overrode Gov. Andy Beshear's (D) veto on April 12, 2024. The law says, "A ranked-choice voting method that allows electors to rank candidates for an office in order of preference and has ballots cast to be tabulated in multiple rounds following the elimination of a candidate until a single candidate attains a majority shall not be used in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office in this state."
Louisiana
Governor Jeff Landry (R) signed SB 101 into law on May 28, 2024. The new law says, "A ranked-choice voting or instant runoff voting method shall not be used in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office in this state." The legislation provides an exception for military and overseas absentee voters, voting in runoff elections.
Mississippi
Governor Tate Reeves (R) signed SB 2144 into law on May 13, 2024. The law states, "Ranked-choice voting, also known as instant runoff voting, is prohibited in statewide, county, local, municipal and school district elections in the State of Mississippi." The legislation also prohibited the use of any ranked voting method for primary or party nominating contests.
Missouri
On November 5, 2024, Missouri voters approved Amendment 7 68.5% to 31.5%. The constitutional amendment prohibited ranked-choice voting, among other changes to the state's election laws.
Montana
HB 598 was signed into law by Governor Greg Gianforte (R) on April 27, 2023. The law states, "An election conducted under Title 13 or under Title 20 may not use a ranked-choice voting method to determine the election or nomination of a candidate to a local, state, or federal office."
Oklahoma
HB 3156 was signed into law by Governor Kevin Stitt (R) on April 29, 2024. The law states, "No election conducted by the State Election Board, a county election board, or any municipality authorized to conduct elections in Oklahoma shall use ranked choice voting, ranked voting, proportional ranked voting, preferential voting, or instant runoff voting."
South Dakota
SB55 was signed into law by Governor Kristi Noem (R) on March 27, 2023. The law says, "The State Board of Elections may not authorize and a political subdivision may not adopt or enforce in any manner a rule, resolution, charter provision, or ordinance establishing a system of voting for any office where: (1) Voters rank candidates in order of preference..."
Tennessee
HB 1868 and SB1820 were signed into law by Governor Bill Lee (R) on March 7, 2022. The laws state, "A county election commission shall not utilize instant runoff voting or ranked choice voting to conduct an election in this state for a statewide or local government office.”
For more information on anti-RCV legislation, see link here in Ballotpedia News.
Democrats, please give up your quest for RCV in Washington State. Wherever it has been used it has been a disaster, this includes most recently in Pierce County, WA where voters participating in an auditor's survey said by a 2-to-1 margin that they didn't like the system!
Bill Bruch
Bill Bruch is the WA State GOP Election Integrity Chairman, WAGOP Executive Board Member, 5-Term Skagit County GOP Chairman, Citizen Journalist, Blogger, Business Owner, “2021 Citizen Activist of the Year” award by the Olympic Conference, 2020 WA State House Representative Candidate, Former Council Member, and WA State 2016 & 2024 RNC National Convention Delegate.
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