Dirty tricks in Montana

Ranked-choice voting advocates “seem to have given up trying to convince voters,” writes the Stop RCV co-chairmen today in The American Spectator. Yet that doesn’t mean they’re giving up altogether. Instead, they’re trying to trick voters—two ballot measures in Montana are exhibits A and B. 

The first ballot measure would replace ordinary primary elections with one that automatically sends four candidates to the general election. All candidates, regardless of political party, would appear on one ballot. This “jungle primary” would let Democrats have a say in choosing the Republicans that appear on the general election ballot, and vice versa.

Given Montana’s political landscape, this would often result in general elections with two Republicans and two Democrats, or else three Republicans and one Democrat. Assuming all four candidates are relatively popular, a candidate might win with a plurality of less than 30 percent of the vote. That’s where the second ballot measure comes in, to “fix” the problem created by the first.

The second measure simply requires that winners be elected by majority, not just a plurality. But it doesn’t say how — it just requires the Montana State Legislature to make it so. This is the trap set by the RCV cabal. There are only two ways to comply if these measures pass: hold yet another election or use RCV.

Got that? Use one measure to “open” primaries but also require four winners move on to the general election ballot. Then use the second measure to require winning with a majority. That sounds like no big deal, but combined with the first measure, it creates a problem—by design.

Almost all the money for these measures comes from outside of Montana. The sources include dark-money groups like Article IV and Arabella Advisors. What do the groups have in common? They all push for ranked-choice voting. Ah yes, they’re trying to wreck Montana elections so that they can foist RCV on the state. How clever, and cynical.