Can’t pick just one candidate? CT lawmakers consider Ranked Choice Voting
RCV lets voters "rank" candidates, with last place votes being reassigned until someone hits 50%. But Connecticut's top elections official said the state isn't ready yet.
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yesterdayYou could have a whole new way to vote next year.
On Monday, supporters urged state lawmakers to try out Ranked Choice Voting, among other possible election changes.
WHAT IS RANKED CHOICE VOTING?
When you cast a ballot, you only vote for one candidate. But what if you could rank your picks – first, second, third place and so on?
It’s called Ranked Choice Voting. The system is already used in 29 states and New York City.
Here’s how RCV works: If your favorite candidate comes in last place, he or she drops off – and your second choice gets your vote. This keeps happening until someone hits 50% and wins the election.
On Monday, supporters urged the General Assembly’s Government Administration and Elections Committee to allow it here – on a limited basis.
“Ranked Choice Voting has worked, there’s been very little confusion, and voters like it,” said Monte Frank, a member of the Governor’s Working Group on Ranked Choice Voting.
TEST RUN?
A new bill would only allow ranked choice voting for party primaries, including presidential preference races.
The concept isn’t entirely new in Connecticut. Political party conventions already hold multiple rounds of voting to endorse a candidate.
“I had one convention I chaired that had people voting six times,” said Lon Seidman, a former Democratic State Central Committee member. “When we go out to that primary ballot, the rank-and-file members of our party do not have the opportunity to vote as many times as their leaders do.”
Ranked choice voting could have had a major impact on Gov. Ned Lamont’s first election. His opponent, Bob Stefanowski, won the Republican nomination with just 29% of the vote in a crowded five-way primary.
“The number of people who voted for him – to put him on the ballot as the Republican candidate – was less than the number of people who go to Yankee Stadium on any sold-out night,” said Frank.
Lamont supports the bill.
“This disincentivizes ‘strategic’ voting (voting for a candidate that is not their first choice), giving every voter the opportunity to indicate their true preferences when participating in their civic duty,” the governor testified. “It also means that a first-place vote allocated to a candidate does not feel ‘wasted’ if that candidate does not draw a significant level of support.”
Frank, who ran for lieutenant governor as a third-party candidate, said that RCV could make outside parties more competitive. The governor’s task force also recommended it for local elections like mayor and city council too.
IS CT READY?
But can Connecticut handle such a complicated system?
Election officials want an extra year to prepare, especially with Early Voting still in its infancy and the state replacing its 20 year-old vote tabulators.
“Our office would need to develop and adopt new procedures, regulations, public education materials, and much more,” Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas, Connecticut’s top elections official, told the panel.
Lawmakers are also looking at other changes, like letting anyone to cast an absentee ballot.
Voters overwhelmingly amended the state constitution to allow it, but lawmakers also have to change state law.
Republicans worry about election security, especially in light of multiple absentee ballot scandals in Bridgeport.
“If you’re going to have absentee balloting for all then you also have to have some security measures along with that,” said state Sen. Rob Sampson (R-Wolcott).
WHAT’S NEXT?
The GAE Committee has until next Wednesday to act on the proposals.
You can submit written testimony HERE.
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