Ranked-choice voting now banned in Oklahoma
by Staff Report
On Monday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill to ban ranked-choice voting. This makes Oklahoma the seventh state to prohibit the slow and convoluted election system. House Bill 3156 explicitly bans "ranked choice voting, ranked voting, proportional ranked voting, preferential voting, or instant runoff voting" from being used for any elections in the state. It protects Oklahoma’s reputation for efficient and trustworthy elections.
Jason Snead and Trent England are the co-chairmen of the national Stop Ranked-Choice Voting Coalition. They thanked legislators and Gov. Stitt:
“Voters want elections where it’s easy to vote, hard to cheat, and easy to trust the results. RCV does the opposite, making it harder to vote and difficult to conduct and verify the process. Oklahoma legislators and Gov. Stitt have protected their state’s reputation as one of the best in the nation for running straightforward and trustworthy elections.” - Jason Snead, co-chairman of the Stop RCV Coalition and Executive Director of the Honest Elections Project
“Oklahomans vote on paper and mostly at the polls, which makes elections here easier to trust. And we usually get results on election night. RCV threatened all of this. Thankfully, many thoughtful legislators and Gov. Stitt have joined a growing group of states that have banned RCV to protect their voters and the integrity of their elections.” - Trent England, co-chairman of the Stop RCV Coalition and Executive Director of Save Our States
Other states that have banned RCV are Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, South Dakota, and Tennessee. Just two states, Alaska and Maine, use RCV at the state level; Alaskans will vote on whether to repeal it this November.