{"id":2241770,"date":"2024-05-10T12:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T16:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ivey-signs-legislation-to-keep-ranked-choice-voting-from-confusing-voters\/"},"modified":"2024-05-10T12:27:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T16:27:25","slug":"ivey-signs-legislation-to-keep-ranked-choice-voting-from-confusing-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ivey-signs-legislation-to-keep-ranked-choice-voting-from-confusing-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivey Enacts Law to Simplify 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\">14<\/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-signs-legislation-to-keep-ranked-choice-voting-from-confusing-voters%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=2241770&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>Alabama made\u2063 a significant move \u200ctowards election integrity as Governor Kay\u2064 Ivey\u2062 prohibited ranked-choice \u200dvoting (RCV) through legislation. The law \u2063aims to simplify elections and\u200c enhance voter\u200b confidence by ensuring a straightforward voting process. The measure received widespread bipartisan support in both \u2062the Senate and House, emphasizing the importance of direct candidate selection in the electoral system.  <\/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>Alabama scored a major win for election integrity Friday after Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation prohibiting the use of <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> (RCV). <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am proud to sign this bill which takes another step towards ensuring the confidence in our elections,\u201d Ivey said in a statement. \u201cNot only is ranked-choice voting confusing to voters, it also limits their ability to directly elect the candidate of their choice. Voting should be simple, and this complicated and confusing method of voting has no place in Alabama\u2019s elections.\u201d<\/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>House Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/AL\/votes\/SB186\/2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed<\/a> the measure last week after it was approved in a near-unanimous Senate vote 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>While Maine and Alaska are the only two states to employ RCV so far, their elections since each implemented the system have produced outcomes that clearly contradict the desires of voters. In Maine, 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 during the 2018 midterms, despite Poliquin winning the most votes in the first round of voting. That outcome was due to the state\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/glenn-youngkin-wins-gop-nomination-for-governor-of-virginia\/\" title=\"Glenn Youngkin Wins GOP Nomination For Governor Of Virginia\">ranked-choice voting system<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, in Alaska, 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 state\u2019s at-large congressional seat last year even though \u201cnearly 60 percent of voters [cast] their ballots for a Republican.\u201d RCV also played a major role in helping Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski fend off a challenge from Trump-backed Kelly Tshibaka during the 2022 midterms.<\/p>\n<p>RCV has also been shown to produce high rates of discarded ballots. 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 thrown out because they\u2019re deemed to be \u201cexhausted.\u201d 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 2022 special congressional election, 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>Ivey\u2019s signing of SB 186 makes Alabama the third state to bar the use of RCV this year, alongside Kentucky and Oklahoma. Other <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">states<\/a> to pass prohibitions on ranked-choice voting in prior years are Florida, Idaho, Tennessee, Montana, and South Dakota.<\/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>Alabama&#8217;s election integrity received a boost as Gov. Kay Ivey banned ranked-choice voting (RCV) via new legislation. Ivey emphasized the importance of fostering trust in elections and deemed RCV as confusing for voters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2241771,"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\/53135274805_93ba1eacfa_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2241770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/53135274805_93ba1eacfa_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241770","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=2241770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2241771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2241770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2241770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2241770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}