{"id":2199241,"date":"2024-03-14T15:57:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T19:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-advance-bill-to-keep-oklahoma-elections-free-of-ranked-choice-voting-chaos\/"},"modified":"2024-03-14T16:01:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T20:01:37","slug":"republicans-advance-bill-to-keep-oklahoma-elections-free-of-ranked-choice-voting-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-advance-bill-to-keep-oklahoma-elections-free-of-ranked-choice-voting-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans Push Legislation to Prevent Ranked-Choice Voting in Oklahoma Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frepublicans-advance-bill-to-keep-oklahoma-elections-free-of-ranked-choice-voting-chaos%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2199241&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<div>\n<figure>\n  <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In a decisive move, the <strong>Oklahoma\u2062 House<\/strong> with\u2062 a Republican majority has <strong>passed a\u200c bill<\/strong> that aims to steer clear \u2063of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/andrew-yang-has-commanding-lead-in-nyc-mayoral-race-poll-shows\/\" title=\"Andrew Yang Has Commanding Lead In NYC Mayoral Race, Poll Shows\">ranked-choice voting<\/a>, a method they fear could complicate elections.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oklegislature.gov\/billinfo.aspx?bill=hb3156\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HB 3156<\/a> explicitly\u200b bans the use of ranked-choice voting systems by any entity tasked with conducting elections within the state, favoring the retention of Oklahoma&#8217;s\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arkansas-county-makes-big-move-to-ditch-voting-machines-for-paper-ballots\/\" title=\"Arkansas County switches from voting machines to paper ballots.\">traditional voting methods<\/a>. The bill garnered significant support, evidenced by a <a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf\/2023-24%20SUPPORT%20DOCUMENTS\/votes\/House\/HB3156_VOTES.HTM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">63-16 vote<\/a>, though \u200dnot without dissent from\u2062 within the GOP and across \u2062the \u2063aisle.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200bproposed legislation is now on its way to the Senate, where it \u2063will undergo further scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ranked-choice voting (RCV)<\/strong>, while aimed at ensuring majority support for elected officials, requires voters to rank their candidates by\u200b preference and involves\u200c a process of elimination and\u2062 vote redistribution\u2064 until a candidate emerges with over half\u2063 the votes.<\/p>\n<h2>What&#8217;s \u200cat\u200b Stake with HB\u2063 3156?<\/h2>\n<p>The \u200breach of HB\u2063 3156 is extensive \u2013 \u2064it \u200bseeks to invalidate any local government approvals of ranked-choice voting and declare any\u200c such elections void. Furthermore,\u2062 should any infraction occur, \u200clegal remedies are outlined to preserve the\u200d integrity of the state&#8217;s \u200belection \u200bprocess.<\/p>\n<h3>The Backdrop\u2063 of the Bill<\/h3>\n<p>While RCV is not currently used in any Oklahoma elections, proponents of HB 3156, like Representative Eric Roberts,\u200c assert that preemptive action is \u2064necessary \u2063to maintain the straightforwardness and reliability of \u200bthe voting process,\u200b particularly when it comes to recounts.<\/p>\n<p>Critics, including Bill sponsor Roberts, argue that \u2064ranked-choice voting\u2064 has historically \u200bled to confusion and delays in finalizing \u200celection results and has potential \u2064vulnerabilities that can challenge \u2064the legitimacy of \u2063outcomes.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p> &#8220;Ranked-choice voting\u200c makes voting more confusing and has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-are-already-telling-americans-to-expect-delayed-election-results-this-fall\/\" title=\"Democrats Are Already Telling Americans To Expect Delayed Election Results This Fall\">delayed election results<\/a> \u200beverywhere \u2063it has been tried.&#8221; &#8211; Rep. Eric Roberts<br \/>\n \u2063\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Instances from\u2063 other regions \u2064illustrate some of \u200cthe pitfalls \u2062associated with RCV. In\u200b Oakland, a significant blunder led to \u2064a two-month delay in determining the rightful winner of an election. \u2062Meanwhile, a Utah \u2063town&#8217;s pilot project saw an alarming rate \u200dof discarded ballots due \u200dto the complexity of the system.<\/p>\n<p>A deep-dive into the implications of RCV by experts revealed\u2064 the phenomenon of &#8216;ballot exhaustion&#8217; &#8211; where voters\u200d who do not rank all candidates often have their votes\u200c discarded in subsequent rounds if their top choices are eliminated \u2064early on.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, there are examples where RCV results seemed not\u200d to align with \u2062the majority preference, as seen in some high-profile\u200b races in Alaska \u200band Maine.<\/p>\n<p>If HB 3156 \u200csuccessfully passes the\u200b Senate and receives the Governor&#8217;s signature, Oklahoma will join a handful of \u200dstates that\u200d have turned\u2062 away from\u200c ranked-choice voting, potentially shaping the future landscape of how Americans vote.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>\n  <em>Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate\u2062 of the University\u2062 of Mary Washington. His insightful commentary has been featured in various publications, including RealClearPolitics and Conservative Review. Follow his sharp analysis on\u200d Twitter \u2062@ShawnFleetwood.<\/em>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oklahoma House GOP Passes Bill Outlawing Ranked-Choice Voting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2199242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Oklahoma_State_Capitol_Building.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2199241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Oklahoma_State_Capitol_Building.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2199242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}