Wins in Virginia

The Richmond Times-Dispatch yesterday published an article I wrote highlighting positive developments in Virginia.

Virginia voters can have confidence in November that the election process will be simple and their votes will count. That’s because of the defeat of two radical election proposals pushed by well-financed lobbying groups. Each would have made voting less transparent and more confusing. Voters were spared the latest mess only by gubernatorial veto on April 8.

As we noted earlier here, Gov. Youngkin stood up for voters and prevented any expansion of RCV in the Commonwealth. The other measure, which was killed by the legislature, would have joined the state to the National Popular Vote interstate compact.

Legislators and the Governor are wise to reject these kinds of schemes. Making major changes to election processes calls for serious study, and healthy skepticism. RCV has been tried and rejected over and over in the United States. NPV is entirely novel and almost certainly unconstitutional. Virginia voters are fortunate to have elected officials who have dismissed both proposals.