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Defending the power of our states since 2009
This was originally published at StopRCV.com.
It’s been quite the year for the Virginia Legislature after Democrats gained control of all branches of government in the Commonwealth. The House of Delegates and Senate have passed terrible bill after terrible bill. One that recently passed both chambers of the legislature and is now on Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk is Senate Bill 176, which would encourage local governments to implement ranked-choice voting (RCV).
Similar to another piece of legislation that passed last session before being vetoed by the then-Governor Glenn Youngkin, this bill would let any local government adopt RCV. This would create different, changing, overlapping election systems, which guarantees increased voter confusion and distrust. It is a gift from Virginia politicians to deep-pocketed, far-left election reform groups like FairVote and Unite America that have seen their RCV proposals rejected by voters in recent years.
Currently, RCV is only used in Arlington County Board primary elections, but other localities like Loudoun County and Newport News were exploring the use of ranked-choice voting even before the bill passed.
The Virginia Legislature couldn’t have chosen a worse time to experiment with RCV. The Indiana and Ohio state legislatures have passed bills banning this absurd system this year, as have seventeen other states over the last four years. Alaskans will vote on a repeal measure for the second time this November, after the 2024 ballot measure failed by only 743 votes.
RCV has failed everywhere it’s been tried. Governor Spanberger should veto SB 176 to keep Virginians from a system known for eliminating voters' ballots, delaying results, and making election administration and voting more difficult.