Ranked choice voting does well

 Rob Richie, FairVote - Last night’s elections were packed with unexpected twists and turns, but some things never change: ranked choice voting (RCV) remains the fastest growing nonpartisan election reform in the country. Voters approved it almost everywhere it was on the ballot.

These victories add credence to our longstanding strategy at FairVote Action of pursuing local victories. RCV grows exponentially because once voters see it working near them, they want it in their communities too. In 2016, RCV was used in only 10 American cities; now it will be used in scores of states and cities. Below are details on each RCV measure that was on the ballot this year, as well as interesting results from yesterday’s RCV general elections. 

Ranked choice voting WINS in Portland, Oregon - This is an especially huge win for advocates of replacing winner-take-all elections. Portland, Oregon voted to adopt the proportional form of ranked choice voting, the ‘gold standard’ for legislative elections that ensures majority rule and provides fair representation to minority viewpoints at the same time – enabling “shared representation” and reliably bringing all of us to the table. Portland will be the largest American city using proportional RCV, building momentum for the Fair Representation Act that would adopt it for Congress. 

Ranked choice voting WINS in Multnomah County, Oregon - At the same time that Portland, Oregon voted in favor of adopting ranked choice voting for city elections, Multnomah County (Oregon’s largest county and home to most of Portland) voted to adopt it for county elections. The measure currently has 67% support. 

Ranked choice voting WINS in Evanston, Illinois - Evanston became the first city in Illinois to adopt ranked choice voting for all voters, and it did so with a landslide margin of 82% in favor. This result will be a big help to the effort for statewide RCV in Illinois, since RCV will soon be used in a major Chicago suburb and make headlines throughout the region. To join the state’s RCV movement, visit our friends at FairVote Illinois. 

Ranked choice voting WINS in Fort Collins, Colorado - Fort Collins has one of the most active grassroots RCV movements in the country, earning a vote from the city council to place RCV on the ballot and paying off with a big win last night. Ranked Choice Voting for Fort Collins brought together over 100 volunteers in this campaign for phone banking, texting, door-to-door canvassing, placing lawn signs around town, and holding public educational events. 

Proportional ranked choice voting WINS in Portland, Maine - Voters in Portland, Maine passed a measure authorizing the city council to upgrade its elections with proportional RCV. The city currently uses a winner-take-all form of ranked choice voting, so this win shows that beginning with one form of RCV can lead to proportional RCV later on. 

Ranked choice voting leads statewide in Nevada - With 77% of the statewide vote counted, the measure for top-5 primaries and ranked choice voting general elections has 51.5% support. Word on the street is that most remaining ballots are mail-in votes, which bodes well for this measure’s chances but also means it could take several days to count. Because the Nevada measure is a state constitutional amendment, it needs to pass again in 2024 to take effect, but a win here keeps the process moving forward. The successful use of ranked choice voting and top-4 primaries in Alaska this year may have contributed to this measure’s momentum. 

Ranked choice voting WINS in Ojai, California - RCV is ahead in Ojai with 57% in support of Measure M, which is an advisory measure to support the proposal to elect the city council with proportional RCV citywide. The Ojai Valley Democratic Club led an army of volunteers to spread the word about Measure M, working to put door hangers on every single household in the city.

We’re still waiting for results in Seattle - The Seattle question had two parts. The first part asked if voters want to change how city elections work, and the second part asked whether voters would prefer to use ranked choice voting or approval voting. The first part is a dead heat, with ‘no’ currently at 51% and ‘yes’ at 49%. We’re expecting the next big update around 7 pm ET tonight, and we’ll have a much clearer picture then; local reformers are eager to see the latest numbers. On the second part, ranked choice voting has a massive lead over approval voting, 74% to 26%. Grounded by a tremendous number of community endorsements, Seattlites recognized that ranked choice voting is a fair system that gives voters better choices, and would be a better fit for Seattle than approval voting. Unfortunately, the prospect of approval voting passing might have contributed to the current ‘no’ lead for part one of the measure. 

Two ranked choice voting measures were likely defeated - In Clark County and San Juan County, Washington, it appears that voters are on track to reject all of the charter amendments on the ballot, including the RCV measures. The defeats may have been due to having so many different measures on the ballot at once, with opposition advocates urging voters to vote against all of them rather than consider each individually. Our in-state allies FairVote Washington will be doing a deep dive into the Washington state measure, but we applaud the charter commissions for recommending RCV; its time will come. 

State wins create openings for legislative wins - FairVote Action is deeply invested in making RCV the national norm through wins in state legislatures and Congress. These elections have created new opportunities for allies of RCV to advance RCV legislatively, building on the fact that Congress and more than half of states have considered RCV legislation in the past two years, with several key wins. We’ll share news about these openings after the electoral dust fully settles. 

Voters win with ranked choice voting - RCV was used in elections up and down the ballot, including some of the nation’s most competitive races to determine control of the U.S. House and Senate. Alaska made history as the first state to use RCV in general elections for Governor and state legislators (Maine uses RCV in primary elections for those offices).High-profile races in Alaska and Maine will use RCV to determine the winner because no candidates earned a majority in the first round. In the Alaska Senate race,  Lisa Murkowski and fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka are the clear front-runners and the race will be decided by instant runoff.