Ranked-Choice Voting News Roundup - July 2024
by Staff
Welcome to our weekly news roundup, where we highlight the top stories surrounding ranked-choice voting—both opposing and supporting—throughout the nation.
Week of July 21
A primer on Oregon’s ranked choice voting ballot measure
Lake Oswego Review | July 25, 2024
This November, Oregon residents will consider a new way to elect political representatives.
In 2023, the Oregon Legislature referred a ballot measure for Oregon to become one of the first states in the country to adopt ranked choice voting. Here are some things voters need to know about this election method.
Idaho AG Raúl Labrador sues to stop open primaries initiative, teeing up legal fight
Idaho Statesman | July 24, 2024
A coalition aiming to end the Idaho Republican Party’s closed primary system and implement ranked choice voting faces another hurdle for its November ballot initiative: a lawsuit from Attorney General Raúl Labrador.
Labrador petitioned the Idaho Supreme Court on Wednesday to throw out the measure that earlier this month secured enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 5 general election. The attorney general argued the Idahoans for Open Primaries initiative violates the state constitution by addressing more than one subject, and that volunteers deceptively collected signatures from voters by not explaining the full effect of the measure.
Judge upholds petitions in repeal of ranked-choice voting, which means it will be on the ballot in November
Must Read Alaska | July 22, 2024
A judge has denied election attorney Scott Kendall and his Alaskans for Better Elections group in their efforts to disqualify the repeal of ranked-choice voting from the November ballot by lawfaring the petition booklets submitted to the Division of Elections.
The decision, granted on Friday, ended up in favor of the group that worked to collect tens of thousands of signatures over the course of a year.
Week of July 14
Idaho voters will decide on a ballot initiative for top-four primary and ranked-choice voting system in November
Ballotpedia News | July 18, 2024
The Idaho Secretary of State announced on July 10 that a ballot initiative that would establish top-four primaries and ranked-choice voting for general elections at the congressional, statewide, and county level qualified for the November ballot.
Currently, Idaho’s Democratic Party allows unaffiliated voters to vote in its primary. The state’s Republican Party allows only voters registered with its party to vote in its primaries. Unaffiliated voters can choose to affiliate with a party on Election Day. The primary election winner is the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes, even if he or she does not receive an outright majority of votes.
Lawsuit challenges Republican-backed ballot initiative on ranked choice voting
Saint Louis Post-Dispatch | July 16, 2024
Two St. Louis residents are asking a judge to toss out the ballot language on a proposed constitutional amendment designed to bar ranked choice voting.
In a lawsuit filed in Cole County Circuit Court, Liz de Laperouse and Eric Bronner said the initiative approved by the Republican-controlled House and Senate earlier this year is flawed and should be corrected.
More states banned ranked-choice voting in 2024 than any other year
Ballotpedia News | July 16, 2024
Five states–Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma–passed laws banning the use of RCV in 2024, more than in any other year.
No state had a law prohibiting the use of RCV before 2022 when Florida and Tennessee became the first states to adopt bans. Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota joined them in 2023. Republicans controlled the legislature in all ten states to have passed an RCV ban.
Week of July 7
Idahoans for Open Primaries initiative has enough signatures to qualify for November ballot
Idaho Capital Sun | July 10, 2024
A ballot initiative to end Idaho’s closed primary elections and create a ranked-choice voting system for the general election has enough signatures to appear on the ballot for the Nov. 5 general election, the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office announced Wednesday.
In Idaho, ballot initiatives are a form of direct democracy where the people vote on whether or not to pass a law, independent of the Idaho Legislature.
Richmond Agrees to Ranked-Choice Voting Ballot Measure
Contra Costa News | July 8, 2024
The Richmond City Council agreed to place a ranked choice voting ballot measure before voters this November.
The ballot measure was approved on July 2 in a 5-0 vote with Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez and Councilmember Soheila Bana absent.
Signatures submitted for Arizona initiative that would eliminate partisan primaries, possibly enact ranked-choice voting
Ballotpedia News | July 8, 2024
In Arizona, a campaign for a ballot initiative that would eliminate partisan primaries submitted signatures on July 3, 2024.
Make Elections Fair, the campaign sponsoring the initiative, submitted 584,124 signatures to state officials. At least 383,923 signatures must be verified for the initiative to make the ballot.
Week of June 30
Trial concludes in challenge to Alaska ranked choice voting repeal petition
Anchorage Daily News | July 3, 2024
A trial concluded Wednesday in a case that could determine whether Alaskans get to vote later this year on keeping the state’s ranked choice voting and nonpartisan primary system.
The voting system was narrowly adopted by Alaskans in a 2020 ballot initiative and first used in 2022. Shortly after, a group of conservative Alaskans launched a new ballot initiative to repeal the voting method and return to closed primaries and traditional pick-one general elections. Since then, the organizers of the repeal effort have been plagued by allegations of violating Alaska’s law concerning campaign ethics and signature collection.
Idaho open primaries supporters submit signatures to state for final round of verification
Idaho Capital Sun | July 2, 2024
Members of Idahoans for Open Primaries submitted their signatures to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office for final verification on Tuesday, with supporters feeling optimistic they would qualify their ballot initiative for the Nov. 5 general election.
In Idaho, ballot initiatives are a form of direct democracy where the people vote on whether or not to pass a law, independent of the Idaho Legislature.
Petition to change D.C. elections gets thousands of signatures. What's next?
The Washington Post | July 1, 2024
Carrying thousands of petitions in black cases, some stacked in a red Radio Flyer wagon, supporters of major changes to D.C. elections delivered more than 40,000 signatures to the Board of Elections in Navy Yard on Monday for a ballot initiative to bring ranked-choice voting to D.C. elections and to allow registered independents to vote in primaries.
If enough signatures are found to be valid, Initiative 83 would appear on the November ballot — and if voters approve it, I-83 could shake up D.C. elections. Under the proposal, the primaries would be opened up to thousands more people, and the tabulation of votes on election night would be changed. Currently, more than 70,000 registered independents can’t participate in any primaries, including theDemocratic primary, which in deep-blue D.C. is often the decisive race. Meanwhile, ranked-choice voting would allow voters to rank candidates by preference, a method intended to ensure that the winner receives more than 50 percent of the vote.