Ranked Choice Voting: Yea or Nay?
Ranked Choice Voting: Yea or Nay?
The controversial practice has appeared in a few recent elections
It worked in Virginia:
Former Virginia State Del. Chris Saxman, a Staunton Republican who is now executive director at the free-enterprise non-profit Virginia Free, told Fox News Digital that RCV worked in the selective way it was implemented in his state.
During the 2021 gubernatorial sweeps, Virginia Republicans utilized RCV in their primary candidate selection process, which led to Glenn Youngkin winning the nomination.
Virginia Republicans voted to hold a convention rather than a primary that year.
Saxman said that situation showed there is value in nuanced reforms to elections like the way the party utilized RCV.
"Complex systems reward small change," he said, going on to claim that because of the surgical way Virginia Republicans implemented RCV, it led to a political earthquake that November.
New York, Alaska, and Maine all have recently had elections with RCV, with some in favor of it, while others have mixed feelings. But one thing is certain. The debate about RCV isn’t going away:
Ballot measures implementing or banning RCV will appear in Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, Missouri and Colorado. Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Kentucky also have pre-emptively banned RCV.
In Virginia, Arlington will be the first locality to use RCV for its local Board primaries, with a few other localities also considering it for their upcoming November elections.