Ranked choice voting faces cloudy future after election setbacks
Voters in several states last week delivered a stinging rebuke to ranked choice voting, clouding the future of an idea that had seen strong momentum in recent years.
Ranked choice voting, which allows voters to rank political candidates by preference, is used statewide in Alaska and Maine and in major U.S. localities such as New York City and San Francisco.
But voters in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon rejected ballot measures that would have adopted ranked choice voting for packed races. In Missouri, voters approved a ballot measure banning the approach statewide and locally, except for a grandfather clause for St. Louis municipal elections.
Results are still too close to call on a measure to scrap Alaska’s existing use of ranked choice voting. With 94% of results reported, the measure was up by about 2,400 votes.
“Voters this year were reluctant to make dramatic changes to the way they vote,” said Chandler James, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Oregon. “But I don’t think that it spells the end for ranked choice voting in the future.”
https://mainemorningstar.com/2024/11/15/ranked-choice-voting-faces-cloudy-future-after-election-setbacks/
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