State Lawmakers Should Follow the RNC’s Lead and Ban Ranked-choice Voting

While most corporate media coverage of last week’s Republican National Committee (RNC) meeting was devoted to the contested leadership race between Ronna McDaniel and Harmeet Dhillon, the organization’s conference yielded a significant win for election integrity.

The RNC members unanimously voted against the use rank-choice voting (RCV), during the meeting. Voters rank candidates in order according to preference using an RCV system. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter’s second-choice candidate. The process continues until one candidate is elected to the majority.

“Traditional American primary and general elections ensure that voters who support one candidate, not a plurality of candidates, are heard clearly while ranked choice voting schemes open elections to ‘ballot exhaustion’ or the disenfranchisement of voters who choose not to support multiple candidates who do not clearly represent their values,” The RNC resolution reads. The committee voted to reject RCV. “similar schemes that increase election distrust, and voter suppression and disenfranchisement, eliminate the historic political party system, and put elections in the hands of expensive election schemes that cost taxpayers and depend exclusively on confusing technology and unelected bureaucrats to manage it.”

As The Federalist’s Victoria Marshall has reportedRCV support is primarily driven mainly by moderate Republicans and Democrat activist organizations as a means to elect more conservative establishment candidates than those that are more populist. In Alaska, centrist Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was behind the state’s adoption of an RCV system in 2020 to avoid accountability from voters during her 2022 reelection bid. Not only did RCV allow Murkowski to defeat Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka in the general election, it also gave Democrat Mary Peltola the boost she needed to beat Republican Sarah Palin for control of Alaska’s at-large congressional seat.

RCV Campaign: A National Push

RCV is currently used for elections in Alaska and Maine. But, state legislatures are pushing to expand it across the country.

According to a January NBC News article Report, “lawmakers in 14 states have introduced, filed and prefiled 27 bills that propose various iterations of ranked-choice voting.” For example, Connecticut’s two Democratic state representatives introduced two RCV laws last month. One Allowing localities to adopt an RCV system and the Other RCV must be used in Connecticut for both state and federal elections.

In Virginia, efforts to expand RCV are a bipartisan venture, with both Democrats and Republicans introducing a collective four bills on the subject during this year’s legislative session. GOP Del. Robert S. Bloxom, Jr. filed for a Bill This would allow political parties to use RCV in presidential primaries. The legislature’s remaining RCV-related bills (HB 1751, SB 1380And HB 2118) have since been passed by indefinitely or tabled by House and Senate committees.

Lynn Taylor, president and cofounder of Virginia Institute for Public Policy, spoke with The Federalist to say that the push for RCV by some Virginia Republicans seems to be based on a misguided belief “that somehow RCV was responsible” for ensuring then-candidate Glenn Youngkin’s victory in the state’s 2021 GOP gubernatorial primary.

“It is not,” Taylor stated. “One, Glenn Youngkin would very likely have won the primary anyway, and two, a bad idea is always a bad idea even when it may have once provided the result desired by the political establishment.”

Taylor mentioned the following in her remarks “corruptive” “confusing” RCV nature described as an “insurmountable roadblock to accurate election results.”

“[RCV] is destabilizing to our electoral process, unfair to our voters, creates a lack of confidence in elections, and must be stopped,” She said. “The current public debate about RCV provides both Virginia legislators and elected officials around the country with the opportunity to fully understand why it should be rejected on a national scale.”

Additional states According to reports, Oklahoma, Montana and Maryland are among the states that may be considering RCV legislation in this year.

Lawmakers Should Reject Ranked Choice Voting

State lawmakers could make it illegal for them to adopt ranked-choice vote. This would mean that they would have to subject their citizens both to candidates and voters. Moreover, the chaotic system would further undermine voters’ already-waning confidence in America’s elections.

State legislatures across the country would be wise to follow the RNC’s lead in rejecting the use of RCV. RCV will end in disaster with its confusing methodology and multiple rounds of counting. (Just ask) Alameda County in California).

“Every state should strive to increase voter confidence through procedures that tighten election protections, not turn them into a demolition derby. Everyone should oppose rigged choice voting,” Taylor stated.

Shawn Fleetwood, a staff writer for The Federalist, is a graduate of The University of Mary Washington. He is also a Convention of States Action state content writer. His work has been featured on numerous outlets including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood