By Ashleigh Fields
Special to the AFRO
Washington, D.C. council members voted to approve funding for ranked choice voting July 14 in the first of two votes on the District’s budget.
The measure, known as Initiative 83, would allow unaffiliated voters to participate in the party primary of their choosing and gives voters the option to rank candidates on the ballot from their most desired contender to the least.
The winning candidate must receive more than 50 percent of votes to advance as the elected official. If no candidate wins that majority, then an “instant runoff” occurs: The candidate who received the fewest first-choice rankings is eliminated, and voters who ranked the now-eliminated candidate first have their ballots added to the totals of their next-choice candidate, according to the Campaign Legal Center.
D.C. Council members affirmed support for Initiative 83 in an 8-4 vote during the council’s budget hearing after a majority of Washingtonians voted in favor of ranked choice voting in the November election.
D.C. Councilmembers Christina Henderson (I-At-Large) and Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) introduced the budget amendment seeking to add funding for the measure on July 14.
Nadeau encouraged her colleagues to approve Initiative 83 in an effort to give voters “more agency” and “honor” Washingtonian’s November election, in which more than 70 percent of local residents voted to approve the legislation.
Henderson said she supports ranked choice voting due to her own experiences. She was one of 24 candidates running for a slot on the Council and said in votes with numerous prospects, a person who gains 10 to 15 percent of the ballots shouldn’t win as outlined under the current rules that require a simple majority ballot count to advance.
“The District is in a strong position right now and this is a logical next step as our elections have become more competitive and more people are interested in serving their community,” Henderson said in a statement after the vote.
Currently, Maine and Alaska are the only two states to fully adopt ranked choice voting in state and federal elections.
“Every way I slice it, ranked choice voting leads to more voter choice, and I think that’s a good thing,” Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) said after the vote.
“Today I voted to adopt ranked choice voting in D.C. elections, listening to the 73 percent of voters who advocated for this in a ballot initiative last election,” she added.
However, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D-D.C.), Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and Councilmembers Anita Bonds (D-At-Large) and Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) have each shared concerns about Initiative 83.
“I think it’s going to make elections take longer, be confusing to many voters, and I think the net result will not be better government. I also resent initiatives that come to us from out of state interests,” Mendelson said in a statement last November.
While Lewis George originally opposed open primaries, she ultimately voted to support the budget amendment to approve funding for Initiative 83 on July 14.
“There is much to be proud of in this budget as D.C. faces unprecedented fiscal challenges and one of the most difficult budgets in recent years,” Lewis George said after the budget vote. “Let’s get this right and pass a budget that keeps our promises to District residents and protects the services our city relies on most.”