Ranked Choice Voting Amendment Act of 2019

Introduced: October 8, 2019

Co-introducers: Councilmembers Elissa Silverman, Brianne Nadeau, and Mary Cheh

BILL TEXT | PRESS RELEASE

Summary: To require that candidates to public office be elected using ranked choice voting, to require that District of Columbia voting systems be compatible with a ranked choice ballot system, and to set a date and conditions for implementation of ranked choice voting in the District.

Councilmember Grosso's Introduction Statement:

First, along with Councilmembers Nadeau, Cheh, and Silverman, I am reintroducing the Ranked Choice Voting Amendment Act of 2019, which will further reform how elections are run in the District of Columbia and guarantee that voters truly preferred candidate enters public office.

Too often in the District of Columbia, we see victors emerge from a crowded field with far less than a majority of the vote.

That maybe even more likely to occur now as the Fair Elections program I introduced, and this Council passed has successfully encouraged more residents to seek elected office.

Ranked Choice Voting, or Instant Runoff Voting, ensures that individuals receive a majority of the vote of the electorate, by allowing voters to rank the choices on their ballots in order of preference.

It is extremely troubling that candidates can be elected to public office with as little as 30 percent of the vote or less.

This important legislation will increase voter turnout as voters will be free to mark their ballot for the candidate that they truly prefer without fear that their choice will help elect their least preferred candidate.

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