Despite Broad Popularity, GOP Moves to Ban Ranked-Choice Voting at Local Level
Buried in a bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida this week is a provision that will eliminate Floridians’ ability to use ranked-choice voting to decide their elections—as people in at least two cities there have voted to do—making DeSantis the latest GOP leader to ban the broadly popular voting reform.
Voting rights groups condemned Senate Bill 524 for creating an unprecedented police force dedicated to investigating so-called “voter fraud” in the state. The law’s attack on ranked-choice voting (RCV) has garnered less nationwide attention.
The law prohibits “the use of ranked-choice voting to determine election or nomination to the elective office”. It also voids “existing or future local ordinances authorizing the use of ranked-choice voting.”
Voters in the city of Clearwater had been set to vote on whether to use RCV in November. 77% of Sarasota residents approved the use of the system for local elections in 2007. However, those voters will now have to choose just one candidate in all elections due to S.B 524.
RCV is favored by six in 10 Americans, according to a recent poll by University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation and Voice of the People. Nearly half of Republicans support the system, sometimes known as “instant runoff” voting. Moreover, 73% of Democrats and 55% of independents also support it.
In a ranked-choice election, voters can rank all the candidates in order of their preference instead of choosing just one. If a candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the first round, the election is over. If no one gets a majority of the first-round votes, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated. The people who ranked that contender first have their votes redistributed to their second choice. The process continues until there is a winner with a clear majority.
Proponents of the system say it increases voter enthusiasm and turnout because it eliminates so-called “spoilers”. It also ends the pressure voters may feel to reject candidates who align with their ideology, for fear that the candidate can’t win.
“If you want to keep voting for one person like you always have, that’s totally fine!” explained nonpartisan election reform group Fair Vote on Thursday. “RCV just gives you backup choices in case your favorite can’t win.”
DeSantis’ move comes nearly two months after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, also a Republican, signed Senate Bill 1820, which also bans RCV, following a party-line vote on the measure.
GOP pushed the law in response to two referendum votes in Memphis, where voters first approved RCV in 2008. The city council introduced another referendum in 2018 asking voters to repeal the system. However, 62% of residents reaffirmed that they wanted to use RCV.
Republican lawmakers like state Sen. Brian Kelsey, who sponsored S.B. 1820, claimed the ban was a victory of “election integrity and ensuring voter clarity.” But Steve Mulroy, author of Rethinking U.S. Election Law, called the law “deeply disappointing.”
“There are a number of reasons Memphians voted multiple times to try RCV… Yet, the governor and legislature have chosen to tell Memphis voters: ‘We don’t care what you think, we know best,'” Mulroy told The Well.
Maine and Alaska both use RCV for state-wide elections and more than 50 cities across the U.S. use the system for local elections.
Originally published at Commondreams.org, written by Julia Conley.
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