Guest Opinion: Initiative 83 Will Let All Voters Be Heard in D.C. Elections
By • October 28, 2024 0 145
By Lisa Rice
As a Ward 7 elected official and native Washingtonian, I’m passionate about solving the problems facing the District. We can take a key step forward by voting YES on Initiative 83 this fall.
Initiative 83 would let independents vote in primary elections and implement ranked choice voting, a proven system where politicians can only win if they get more than 50 percent of the vote. Together, these reforms would make politicians work harder for our votes and hold them accountable for delivering the policy and progress that the majority of Washingtonians seek. It would not allow Republicans to vote in Democratic primaries, or vice versa. It simply means that people like me could finally have a voice.
More than 75,000 people (1 in 6 D.C. voters) are registered independents, including veterans, civil servants, jurists and journalists who do so because of their jobs. Independents like us can’t vote in our taxpayer-funded primary elections because we’re not registered with a political party. That’s not right — every voter should be able to vote in elections that our taxes pay for.
Additionally, our primary elections often see candidates win with well under 50 percent of the vote. That happened just this year in the Ward 7 Democratic Council nomination race, where 10 candidates ran and just under 24 percent of voters cast their ballots for the winner. That means more than 76 percent of voters in my home ward voted for someone other than the winning candidate. How does that make sense as the way to choose our elected officials?
Georgetown voters, please joining me in voting YES on Initiative 83 to hold politicians accountable, give voters more power and ensure all of our voices are heard.
Lisa D. T. Rice leads Make All Votes Count DC, which is backing Initiative 83. She is a Ward 7 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner.
