{"id":2229407,"date":"2024-04-24T17:13:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T21:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-stitt-wont-say-if-hell-sign-a-bill-protecting-oklahoma-elections-from-ranked-choice-voting\/"},"modified":"2024-04-24T17:16:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T21:16:26","slug":"gov-stitt-wont-say-if-hell-sign-a-bill-protecting-oklahoma-elections-from-ranked-choice-voting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-stitt-wont-say-if-hell-sign-a-bill-protecting-oklahoma-elections-from-ranked-choice-voting\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Stitt&#8217;s Position Unclear on Bill Safeguarding Oklahoma Elections from Ranked-Choice Voting"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/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%2Fgov-stitt-wont-say-if-hell-sign-a-bill-protecting-oklahoma-elections-from-ranked-choice-voting%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=2229407&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--><p>The Oklahoma Senate approved a bill banning ranked-choice\u2063 voting in elections, but Governor Kevin Stitt&#8217;s \u200bstance\u2062 on signing HB 3156\u200d remains undisclosed. The measure, passed along party lines, \u2063would invalidate any local government ordinances supporting\u2062 <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>. The bill now awaits the governor&#8217;s signature, with concerns raised about chaotic and inaccurate\u200c election outcomes in municipalities using ranked-choice\u2062 voting systems.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<figure>                         <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Oklahoma Senate passed legislation Wednesday prohibiting the use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) in elections. But Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is remaining mum on whether he\u2019ll sign the bill. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oklegislature.gov\/billinfo.aspx?bill=hb3156\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HB 3156<\/a> stipulates that \u201c[n]o election conducted by the State Election Board, a county election board, or any municipality authorized to conduct elections in Oklahoma shall use ranked choice voting, ranked voting, proportional ranked voting, preferential voting, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-ranked-choice-voting-is-deeply-flawed\/\" title=\"Why Ranked Choice Voting Is Deeply Flawed\">instant runoff voting<\/a>.\u201d The measure <a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf\/2023-24%20SUPPORT%20DOCUMENTS\/votes\/Senate\/HB3156_VOTES.HTM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed<\/a> along party lines, with 37 Republicans supporting and the chamber\u2019s eight Democrats opposing. Three GOP senators did not vote on the bill. <\/p>\n<p>Under RCV, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter\u2019s second-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.<\/p>\n<p>HB 3156 would additionally nullify any \u201cexisting or future\u201d ordinance approved by a local government authorizing the use of ranked-choice voting. Elections conducted using the system would also be moot. <\/p>\n<p>Should a locality violate that provision, the secretary of the Oklahoma Election Board would have the authority to \u201cbring a civil action in an appropriate court for such declaratory or injunctive relief as is necessary\u201d to enforce the law. Oklahoma\u2019s Senate president pro tempore and House speaker may also do so \u201cjointly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the Oklahoma House having already <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/14\/republicans-advance-bill-to-keep-oklahoma-elections-free-of-ranked-choice-voting-chaos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed<\/a> HB 3156 last month, the measure now heads to Stitt\u2019s desk for signature. The governor\u2019s office did not respond to The Federalist\u2019s request for comment on whether Stitt intends to sign the bill into law. <\/p>\n<p>Various U.S. municipalities that have adopted RCV have experienced chaotic and even <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/17\/minnesota-could-be-third-state-to-adopt-ranked-choice-voting-following-alaska-and-maine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">inaccurate election outcomes<\/a>. In an Oakland school board race, for instance, \u201celection officials announced \u2014 two months after the fact \u2014 that <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/01\/11\/ranked-choice-voting-keeps-rigging-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">they got the count wrong<\/a>,\u201d resulting in the \u201crightful winner \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/trial-set-for-next-month-to-determine-winner-of-ousd-school-board-race\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suing<\/a> for his seat.\u201d\u00a0Meanwhile, a Utah town that used an RCV pilot program for its 2021 municipal elections <a href=\"https:\/\/electiontransparency.org\/2023\/03\/03\/cuccinelli-defeat-utahs-ranked-choice-voting-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">experienced<\/a> high rates of ballots being discarded or spoiled. <\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/10\/31\/ranked-choice-voting-is-the-monster-under-the-bed-of-american-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study<\/a> published by the Foundation for Government Accountability last year found that RCV ballots are often discarded due to \u201cballot exhaustion,\u201d a term used to describe when voters select only one candidate on their ballot, and those ballots are tossed because\u00a0their first choice didn\u2019t win a majority in the first round. In Alaska\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-how-ranked-choice-voting-complicates-elections-and-disenfranchises-voters\/\" title=\"Ranked-choice voting complicates elections and undermines voter participation\">2022 special congressional election<\/a>, for example, more than 11,000 \u201cexhausted\u201d ballots were thrown out because those electors \u201cvoted for only one Republican candidate and no one else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>RCV has also been shown to produce election results that appear to contradict the desires of voters. Democrat Mary Peltola <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/01\/11\/ranked-choice-voting-keeps-rigging-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">won<\/a> the aforementioned 2022 Alaska special congressional race even though \u201cnearly 60 percent of voters [cast] their ballots for a Republican.\u201d A similar scenario played out in a 2018 Maine congressional race, in which then-incumbent GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/maine-congressman-loses-seat-in-controversial-ranked-choice-voting-race\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lost<\/a> to Democrat Jared Golden despite Poliquin winning the most votes in the first round of voting.<\/p>\n<p>Election Transparency Initiative Chair Ken Cuccinelli issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/electiontransparency.org\/2024\/04\/24\/506\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a> applauding the Oklahoma Senate\u2019s passage of HB 3156 and urging Stitt to sign the bill into law \u201cto help avert an epidemic of disenfranchised voters whose ballots no longer are counted fairly and equally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow more than ever we need to protect the right to vote in free and fair elections voters can trust, but the Ranked-Choice Voting scheme does precisely the opposite,\u201d Cuccinelli said. \u201cIt is an Election Integrity wrecking ball, is never workable and should always be prohibited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">States<\/a> that have prohibited RCV in their elections include Florida, Idaho, Tennessee, Montana, South Dakota, and Kentucky.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Oklahoma Senate approved a bill banning ranked-choice voting in elections. Governor Kevin Stitt has yet to disclose his stance on signing HB 3156, stating that no election under the State Election Board, county election board, or authorized municipalities in Oklahoma will utilize this method<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2229408,"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\/04\/SelectUSA_Investment_Summit_2023.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2229407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/SelectUSA_Investment_Summit_2023.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229407","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=2229407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2229408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2229407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2229407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2229407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}