Republican Gov. On Monday, Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill that was supported by Democrats and was intended to expand the use of ranked-choice voting (RCV ) in Virginia elections.
According to Youngkin,” the increased risk of falsely false vote submissions raises concerns about disqualification and a growing absence of voter confidence in election results” The genuine questions of citizens must be answered before RCV can be further entrenched and regulated by the Virginia Department of Elections.
Under RCV, which critics usually refer to as “rigged- alternative voting”, voters rank individuals in order of preference. The last-place winner is eliminated and his votes are reallocated to voters ‘ second-choice applicants if no candidate receives a majority of first-choice seats in the first round of election. The voting process continues until one candidate receives the majority of the vote.
Senate Bill 428, which was passed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly earlier this year, mandated that the State Board of Elections create” requirements for voting compiling software for use with existing election systems in primaries conducted by ranked option election.” The State Board of Elections is required to produce voter schooling materials on RCV, submit these on their websites, and help localities in developing voting schooling materials on that topic, according to Daniel Brubaker’s explanation in these pages.
Ranked-choice election technology providers would also be invited to submit an approval application to the State Elections Board. Meanwhile, damaged ballots unable to “go through the machine … will , not , be hand counted”, but replaced with a new” substitute ballot]that matches ] the original as best as possible”, according to Brubaker.
In his reject, Youngkin noted RCV is “new in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and nationwide”, and more highlighted” problems” about its “use in general elections where some citizens have found it confusing”.
Similar issues were raised by Arlington County, a Democratic-held district near Washington, D.C., after its state board primaries next June used the system. Virginia Mercury reports that the County Board chose not to use ranked-choice ballot in its November general elections, causing confusion about the procedure and fears about whether outreach efforts were influencing the support for the new system.
Despite these problems, the Arlington County Board made a statement in February that RCV will be used in the city’s June primary and November public votes. The program will only be used for table elections, not for legislative or presidential elections.
Election Transparency Initiative Chair Ken Cuccinelli applauded Youngkin for “protecting the best of one man, one ballot counted fairly, likewise, and actually”.
” This is the foundational tenant]sic ] of free and fair elections Americans expect and deserve”, Cuccinelli said in a statement. However, Left-wing, anti-Election Integrity megadonors are funding a nationwide campaign to promote the fatal Ranked-Choice Voting scheme, which is intended to drastically advance our political parties to the left, elevate Left-leaning politicians, and benefit political parties.
RCV’s Some Troubles
As Cuccinelli noted, RCV has been largely promoted by Democrats. A , research  , published by the Foundation for Government Accountability next year, for example, found that, of the 74 pro- RCV costs introduced in state parliament last month, 57 “had only Democrat donors”. However,” only eight percent of the total bills received bipartisan help”, with Republicans introducing 16 of the 17 bills opposing ranked- alternative election.
RCV has even resulted in a lot of voting disqualification in the states and regions where it’s been used. RCV ballots are frequently discarded because of “ballot exhaustion,” a term used to describe when voters select just one candidate on their ballot and those ballots are tossed because, according to the FGA  study, their first choice did n’t receive a majority in the first round. In Alaska’s 2022 special parliamentary election, for instance, more than 11, 000 “exhausted” votes were thrown away because those votes “voted for just one Republican member and no one else”.
RCV has even produced effects that are inconvenient with voter preferences. Some of these cases include the aforementioned specific parliamentary election in , Alaska , and a 2018 , Maine legislative competition. Despite receiving more votes from Republicans in the first round of election, the Democrats won both tribes.
While Maine and Alaska are now the only states that use the technique for nationwide races, electors in , Nevada , and , Oregon , did vote on pro- RCV vote measures during their respective elections this November. An initiative repealing Alaska’s RCV system will appear on the state’s 2024 general election ballot.
States , currently prohibiting the use of RCV for elections include Florida, Idaho, Tennessee, Montana, and South Dakota. Legislators in Missouri, Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Ohio are also considering barring its use.
Shawn Fleetwood is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and a staff writer for The Federalist. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
