Has stopping RCV become the most popular election reform?
by Harry Roth
In November of 2024, ranked-choice voting measures were on the ballot in six states and DC, and repeal was on the ballot in Alaska. Groups like FairVote and Unite America were riding high off success in local ballot initiatives around the country. Their wealthy backers dumped millions of dollars into these initiatives, assuming they would get voters in blue, purple, and even red states to vote for RCV. Everything was going well, until the election results came in.
Voters soundly rejected RCV in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon. The strategy of lavishly funding ballot campaigns to convince voters to support a convoluted election system backfired spectacularly. It cost more than $15,000,000 to save RCV in Alaska, with repeal falling short by just 743 votes. Their only other win was in the District of Columbia, where voters approved an open primaries measure that included RCV.
A legislature-initiated Missouri ballot measure putting bans on RCV and noncitizen voting in the state constitution also passed overwhelmingly that year. RCV donors mostly stayed out of that fight, rightfully viewing Missouri as a lost cause for them.
Fast forward to 2026, and the landscape hasn’t improved for RCV. Eight more states have banned it since November 2024, bringing the total number of bans to 19. RCV donors have become reluctant to reach into their deep pockets, and ranked-choice voting advocates are pushing small incremental changes, like city ordinances or state options for local RCV implementation.
Repeal is back on the ballot in Alaska this November. This early in the cycle there is no telling how much will be spent trying to rescue RCV, but it’s unlikely the pro-RCV side will be able to match its 2024 numbers given understandable donor fatigue. Yet if they lose in November, it would be the greatest blow to RCV yet—leaving Maine as the only state still using the odd system.
No matter what happens in Alaska this November, one thing is clear—banning ranked-choice voting has supplanted ranked-choice voting as the fastest-growing election reform in the country. How poetic.