{"id":2238408,"date":"2024-05-06T14:30:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T18:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ivey-wont-say-if-shell-sign-a-bill-safeguarding-alabama-elections-from-ranked-choice-voting\/"},"modified":"2024-05-06T14:32:34","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T18:32:34","slug":"ivey-wont-say-if-shell-sign-a-bill-safeguarding-alabama-elections-from-ranked-choice-voting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ivey-wont-say-if-shell-sign-a-bill-safeguarding-alabama-elections-from-ranked-choice-voting\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivey Silent on Signing Election Protection Bill in Alabama"},"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\">18<\/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%2Fivey-wont-say-if-shell-sign-a-bill-safeguarding-alabama-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=2238408&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 Alabama\u2062 House passed \u2063a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/north-dakota-republicans-are-one-step-closer-to-banning-ranked-choice-voting-in-state-elections\/\" title=\"North Dakota Republicans Are One Step Closer To Banning Ranked-Choice Voting In State Elections\">bill banning <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> (RCV), awaiting Gov. Ivey&#8217;s\u2064 decision. SB\u200b 186 prohibits \u200bRCV in elections, except for specific\u2063 cases. The legislation\u200d passed the House and Senate,\u200b with\u200c critics dubbing\u2062 RCV as &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ranked-choice-voting-keeps-rigging-elections\/\" title=\"Ranked-Choice Voting Keeps Rigging Elections\">rigged-choice voting<\/a>.&#8221; If signed by Ivey, \u2063the law will be effective from Oct.1. \u2064Secretary of State Allen supports this \u200bban\u2062 for fair elections. The bill prohibiting ranked-choice voting \u2063(RCV) \u2064in Alabama has\u200d been approved by the \u2064House and Senate and is pending Gov. Ivey&#8217;s approval. This legislation, SB\u200d 186, restricts RCV in most\u2063 instances, with\u200b critics \u200bcalling \u2063it &#8220;rigged-choice voting.&#8221; Once signed by Gov. Ivey, the law will be enforced starting\u2062 October 1. Secretary of\u2063 State Allen backs this ban to uphold fair elections.  <\/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 Republican-controlled Alabama House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday prohibiting the use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) in elections. But GOP Gov. Kay Ivey won\u2019t say whether she\u2019ll sign the bill into law. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/AL\/bill\/SB186\/2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SB 186<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/AL\/text\/SB186\/2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stipulates<\/a> that \u201cRanked-choice voting shall not be used in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal office.\u201d This law would not, however, apply to \u201celectors who are entitled to vote absentee ballot under the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The measure <a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/AL\/votes\/SB186\/2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed<\/a> the House 74-28 after previously clearing the Senate (34-0-1) last month. <\/p>\n<p>Under RCV, which critics often refer to as \u201crigged-choice voting,\u201d 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>Having cleared both chambers of the legislature, SB 186 now heads to Ivey\u2019s desk for signature. The governor\u2019s office did not respond to The Federalist\u2019s request for comment on whether Ivey intends to sign the bill into law.<\/p>\n<p>If signed by Ivey, the measure would take effect on Oct. 1. <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen celebrated the legislature\u2019s passage of SB 186, saying in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sos.alabama.gov\/newsroom\/secretary-state-wes-allen-applauds-final-passage-ranked-choice-voting-ban\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Friday statement<\/a>: \u201cElections conducted using ranked choice voting violate the fundamental principle of \u2018one-person one-vote.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRanked choice voting makes winners out of losers by redistributing votes to losing candidates until one candidate is assigned a majority of the votes,\u201d Allen said. \u201cAlabama elections are fair, secure, and transparent. Elections that utilize ranked choice voting have no place in Alabama.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Allen alluded to, states and localities that have employed RCV have experienced numerous problems with their elections. 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 last year by the Foundation for Government Accountability, for example, found that RCV ballots are often discarded due to \u201cexhausted\u201d or \u201ctrashed\u201d ballots. This can happen when voters rank one or even several \u2014 but not <em>every<\/em> \u2014 candidate on their ballot, and those ballots end up tossed because\u00a0their choices got eliminated. <\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-stitt-wont-say-if-hell-sign-a-bill-protecting-oklahoma-elections-from-ranked-choice-voting\/\" title=\"Governor Stitt's Position Unclear on Bill Safeguarding Oklahoma Elections from Ranked-Choice Voting\">produce election results<\/a> 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>RCV is also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/02\/14\/after-ranked-choice-voting-rigged-their-elections-alaska-conservatives-fight-to-reclaim-democracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">responsible<\/a> for ensuring GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski\u2019s reelection over a more conservative challenger during the 2022 midterms. <\/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, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.<\/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 Alabama House passed a bill barring ranked-choice voting (RCV) in elections. Governor Kay Ivey&#8217;s stance on signing the law remains undisclosed. Senate Bill 186 specifies the exclusion of RCV from candidate nomination or election processes at all levels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2238409,"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\/05\/38474971165_eb288dfec3_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2238408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/38474971165_eb288dfec3_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238408","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=2238408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2238409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2238408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2238408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2238408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}