Ranked-Choice Voting

Two-thirds of Portland voters say they understand at least “somewhat well” Portland’s new voting system for mayor and City Council, according to a poll commissioned by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

For the first time this fall, under a ranked-choice voting system voters approved in 2022, Portlanders can rank up to six candidates for mayor and City Council. Voters who give high ranks to candidates who garner low levels of support will have their votes transferred to their next-highest-ranked choices.

Voters in Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, D.C., will be asked in November referendums if they support ranked-choice voting. Some states, such as Maine, New York, Utah and Alaska, have already instituted some form of ranked-choice voting, and it is time for Maryland to follow suit statewide (“Expanding ranked choice voting statewide in Oregon will be on November ballot,” Aug. 8). When politicians in both parties claim that ranked-choice voting rigs elections to benefit their opponents, they are alleging without evidence that their own party candidates cannot compete in...

In this year’s Nov. 5 general election in the US, voters in a handful of states will go beyond selecting their preferred candidates. They’ll also vote on how to determine the winner of future races.

The vast majority of elections in the US are guided by plurality rule: Each voter selects one candidate, and the person with the most votes wins. Critics say this system, while simple to grasp, means voters can’t fully express their views when more than two candidates are running for an office.

The Idaho Supreme Court dismissed the challenge on procedural grounds and didn’t rule on the merits. Idaho’s highest court has dismissed the state’s bid to stop a ballot initiative that would create open primaries and ranked-choice voting if approved by voters this November. Labrador filed the challenge in July with the Idaho Supreme Court, alleging that Proposition 1’s sponsors misled the public and fraudulently obtained signatures that were used to qualify the measure for the upcoming general election.

The Idaho Secretary of State’s office announced recently the Idahoans for Open Primaries initiative qualified to be on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. It seeks to abolish party primaries and require ranked-choice voting in the general election. Currently political parties nominate candidates through primary elections, where party members vote for a candidate to represent the party in the general election. Under Idaho law, parties may also close off their primaries to anyone who isn’t a party member This initiative would make all candidates participate in a nonparty primary where...

Alaska’s new election system — with open primaries and ranked voting — has been a model for those in other states who are frustrated by political polarization and a sense that voters lack real choice at the ballot box. Used for the first time in 2022, the changes helped propel the first Alaska Native to a seat in Congress. The voting system, however, could be short-lived. Opponents of ranked voting want to repeal it and are entangled in a legal fight over whether their initiative will be on Alaska’s November...

New York City voters are probably already familiar with ranked-choice voting. The city adopted a version of the system through a 2019 ballot measure, but it is only used for primaries and special elections for municipal elected offices — at least for now. At the state level, a proposed bill would expand the use of ranked-choice voting for all state and local offices. The film traces the wild path of Alaska’s 2022 House race, which featured a ballot with 48 candidates and a failed comeback attempt by Sarah Palin, the...

The Missouri Legislature adjourned last month. It is scheduled to go back into session in September. This is the annual veto session where the legislature has an opportunity to override any of the governor’s vetoes. The Republican majority enacted a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban ranked choice voting in most of the state. The amendment, if approved by the voters, would also ban noncitizen voting and confirm that elections could only be carried out with paper ballots or with any mechanical method prescribed by law. The City of St....