For RCV, the 2023 Session is over
As reported by Charlotte Rene Woods yesterday in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the last ranked choice voting policy still active in the General Assembly (SB1380, Deeds) was passed by indefinitely (a nice way of saying “killed”) by the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee at the request of the patron. This happened yesterday, January 31.
Sen. Deeds has not changed his mind about the policy - he still supports RCV and indicated that we would bring a similar bill up in a future session. Deeds pointed out that, in Virginia alone, over 40,000 votes in the last two presidential primaries were wasted because they were cast for candidates no longer in the race on Election Day. Ranked Choice Voting would solve that issue by counting the vote for the first viable candidate on the voter’s ranked ballot.
The obstacle we face this year, according to the State Board of Elections (ELECT), is a technological one. Virginia localities are allowed to choose which voting system to use, and thus, Virginia uses a total of four different systems. The software (RCTab) that takes the information from the voting systems and tabulates the ranked choice ballots can work with any of those systems, but not multiple systems at the same time. ELECT does not feel that there is enough time before the March 2024 presidential primary to develop and adequately test a tool that can read the information from all four systems at the same time.
It’s important to emphasize that this does NOT affect the use of RCV in localities, which is all that is currently allowed by law. RCTab is compatible with any voting machines used in Virginia and can be applied to elections within one jurisdiction, such as one for City Council or School Board.
RCV advocates in Virginia still have plenty of opportunities! Arlington County passed an ordinance in December 2022 that requires the use of RCV in County Board primaries, which will be held in June. All eyes will be on this first government-run RCV election, so voter education is key. Then there are 132 other localities where we can continue to spread the word and empower local governments to determine if RCV is right for them.
