Three (Now 4!) Ranked Choice Voting bills filed in the General Assembly

EDIT: There are now FOUR RCV bills. See below for information on all of them.

The 2023 General Assembly Session started yesterday! This is a short session - only 30 days - so things will be moving fast.

There are three Ranked Choice Voting bills filed this year. They are sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans and vary in focus and scope. We'll be watching each of them and sharing their progress and what you can do to help. (Watch this space or sign up for our emails.)

1. SB1380 (Creigh Deeds, D) - This is called a "presidential preference" bill. It allows political parties to use RCV in their presidential primary elections. It's not a mandate - they are not required to use RCV - but they would have the option to do so. It's a specific application of RCV in a way that is easy to understand and would allow a large number of Virginia voters to participate in an RCV election. It also outlines how votes would be tabulated based on the party’s decision about how to allocate delegates. Co-patroned by Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D) and Sen. Jeremy McPike (D).

2. HB1751 (Glenn Davis, R) - This bill expands the current RCV local option bill (HB1103), which gives localities the option to use RCV in their elections for Board of Supervisors or City Council. Davis's bill would allow RCV to be used in elections for school boards and would expand the definition of "locality" to include towns. This bill also gives political parties the option to use RCV in all primary contests, including legislative, statewide, congressional, and presidential.) 

3. HB2118 (Sally Hudson, D) - This bill would also expand the local option bill (HB1103) by allowing RCV to be used in all local elections, rather than just the Board of Supervisors or City Council.

4. HB2301 (Rob Bloxom, R) - This bill mirrors the presidential preference bill patroned by Sen Deeds (see #1.)