Editorial: Ranked-Choice Voting Is on the Ballot. What to Do?
By • October 9, 2024 0 5
Ranked-choice voting — in which every voter has the option to rank up to five candidates for each office according to his or her preference — is on the Nov. 5 general election ballot as Initiative 83. If approved, it would apply to all voters, regardless of party registration. It would also allow anyone to vote for any party’s candidate in a primary, whether or not a voter is registered in that party.
With ranked-choice voting, any candidate topping 50 percent of the vote is a winner. In some cases, the candidate list for a particular office may need to be whittled down to the top-ranked candidates to declare a majority winner.
Initiation 83 is controversial. It made it onto the November ballot in September through a long process of petitions, legal overview and campaigning. D.C.’s political leadership — almost all Democrats — is divided, some opposing and some supporting ranked-choice voting.
Mayor Muriel Bowser refused to sign the petition. She is on public record saying, “It’s a bad idea and unnecessary.” Only registered Democrats should participate in a Democratic primary, opines Bowser and most of the initiative’s other opponents. Many say that Initiative 83 violates party affiliates’ rights to freely associate with a political party. A recent slur: Ranked-choice voting will result in “a jungle primary.”
But supporters are convinced that it will give elected officials more accountability to their constituents. “They’ll only win if they garner more than 50 percent of the vote,” argues Lisa D. T. Rice, a Ward 7 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, who proposed the initiative. “Currently over 70,000 voters are disenfranchised from the primaries because they don’t want to affiliate as a Democrat nor a Republican while voting,” she says. Rice and others support the initiative even though it may take more time and a number of ballots to arrive at a majority winner.
How to vote then? There are still a few weeks before the election and lots of information to peruse, online and off. While leaning in favor of Initiation 83, The Georgetowner suggests that you learn more about the pros and cons of ranked-choice voting, informing yourself by reading and talking to people on both sides. Then, vote your conscience.
