The Patriot Post® · Voters (Mostly) Reject Ranked-Choice Voting

Ranked-choice voting (RCV), that leftist creation of a supposedly “fairer” election system that, in fact, is blatantly unfair and unequal, has gone down in flames at the ballot box.

Sold to voters as a cure for the current partisan binary system and a means of making third-party candidates more competitive in elections, it has been shown to be little other than a gimmick for helping underdog Democrats defeat favored Republicans at the local and state levels.

Measures related to RCV were on the ballot in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

While the final numbers are not in, it’s clear that RCV is not popular with the voters, even in Democrat-majority states.

In Alaska, Measure 2, which asked whether the state should maintain or repeal the RCV system adopted in 2020, is still too close to call, although proponents of repeal are currently leading. If it stands, this would be one of the biggest repudiations of RCV yet since voters will have rejected it after experiencing it.

In Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon, voters soundly rejected the adoption of RCV — by 55.1% in the blue state of Colorado and by nearly 60% in equally blue Oregon. Nevadans voted down Question 3 by 54%, marking the second time since 2022 that voters had considered RCV, which they had previously approved. According to state law, the electorate must approve any constitutional amendment twice in consecutive elections before it is adopted. Clearly, Nevadans have wisely reconsidered.

Nearly 70% of voters in Idaho have sent RCV packing. Proposition 1 would have implemented an RCV system in all general elections, similar to Alaska. In Missouri, residents voted in favor of Amendment 7, which bans the RCV system and also requires that voters in the state be U.S. citizens.

In Montana, voters were savvy enough to fend off a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have required candidates winning state-wide elections to garner at least a majority of the vote. Adopting this provision would have been a stepping stone to considering implementing an RCV system.

Finally, there is our nation’s capital, which has long been dominated by Democrats. By an overwhelming margin, DC residents approved Initiative 83, allowing independents into primary elections and implementing an RCV system in the city’s future elections. It will be interesting to see how long DC residents hold onto RCV. In DC’s case, it could theoretically thwart a Democrat candidate being elected mayor.

Now that would be a scandal.