The ranked-choice voting fad is finally ending
by Staff
Stop RCV Coalition Chairs Jason Snead and Trent England recently wrote an op-ed in The Hill describing the decline of ranked-choice voting around the country.
"Once hailed as a promising alternative to America’s “one person, one vote” approach, ranked-choice voting has proven to be a deceptive scheme. Countless cities and counties that misguidedly implemented it are dumping it like a bad stock — either of their own accord or because of citizen-led petitions.
Ranked-choice voting is a confusing and convoluted method of voting that tries to force voters to rank multiple candidates for a single office. If one candidate secures a majority in the first round, that candidate wins. Otherwise, lower-ranked candidates’ votes are redistributed or thrown out until a winner emerges.
This system has resulted in thousands of discarded ballots, widespread voting errors, delayed election results, longer lines at polling places, suspect recounts and, consequently, diminished voter confidence.
We know that public trust in elections matters. This is why six states — Florida, Tennessee, South Dakota, Idaho, Kentucky and Montana — have banned ranked-choice voting over the last two years. Ranked-choice is approved at the statewide level only in Maine and Alaska. In both states, ranked-choice measures passed only after intense pressure and bankrolling from out-of-state left-wing special interest groups."
The battle to stop ranked-choice voting is far from over, but one thing is clear: States are taking legislative action to stop the broken system in its tracks.