Bill Prohibiting Ranked Choice Voting Narrowly Passes In Arizona Senate

The state Senate passed a Republican-sponsored measure banning Ranked Choice Voting, (RCV) Arizona by slim margins on February 28.

All 16 Republicans in this GOP-dominated chamber voted for the bill’s approval, while 13 Democrats voted against. One Democrat abstained.

SB1265 would prohibit RCV in Arizona, while keeping the status quo that the winner of an election with the most legal votes is the one who wins.

Arizona Senator Anthony Kern was the lead Republican sponsor of the bill. He stated that the legislation would stop confusion in voting during Arizona’s elections.

A map of U.S. states and cities that use ranked-choice vote (SOURCE FairVote).

“RCV is an alternative voting method where voters can rank their preferred candidates in order of preference,” A press release by the Arizona State Senate.

“In RCV, if no candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed based on the voters’ second choice. This process continues until a candidate receives a majority of votes.”

“This can be confusing for voters, is more difficult to administer, and may always result in the candidate with the most first-choice votes winning the election,” Kern stated this in a statement.

“In addition, implementing RCV may require substantial changes to the electoral process and may be impractical in some jurisdictions. I am aware that there are groups in Arizona advocating for RCV, but this will only lead to chaos, and we must ensure that our constituents have easy and fair access to the ballot box.”

For reading and voting, the bill will now be sent to Arizona House. It is composed of 31 Republicans and 29 Democrats.

The legislation will go to Gov. if it is approved by the voters. Katie Hobbs will sign the legislation or vote against it.

RCV was adopted in more than 60 US jurisdictions, including Maine, Alaska and other states.

Raquel Teran is the Arizona Senate Minority leader and a Democrat. He did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

Hobbs also announced her intention to raise $500,000 via fund-raising. “flipping the Arizona House and Senate blue in 2024.”

Hobbs Team states “GOP legislators are sending widely out-of-touch, do-nothing bills to Katie’s desk [which, thankfully, she can veto!] that aren’t addressing the pressing issues Arizonans are facing.”

“In 2024, Democrats have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to finally retake control of the legislature if we win just two more seats in both chambers.”

Hobbs shared the news with the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

“As the ADLCC maps out their strategy to flip the state House and Senate blue, they’ll need the support of this grassroots team to get the job done.”

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