DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last week that an open primary and ranked-choice voting initiative can move forward to the signature gathering process, making it likely to appear on the November ballot. At the same time, a last-minute amendment by state lawmakers in the 2024 session now threatens the future of ranked-choice voting altogether, prompting calls for a veto from Governor Jared Polis. Regardless, Colorado Voters First, the group behind the RCV initiative, is pushing forward and hosting a signature gathering campaign kickoffon June 10. Open primaries and...

Campaign buttons urging Alaskans to repeal ranked choice voting in Alaska sit on a picnic table at the home of Phil Izon, a backer of the initiative, in Wasilla, Alaska, on Tuesday, May 14, 2014 Arguments are scheduled May 28, 2024, in a lawsuit challenging the state Division of Election’s decision to certify the initiative for placement on the ballot this year. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) Alaska’s new election system — with open primaries and ranked voting — has been a model for those in other states who are frustrated by...

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — A campaign to overhaul the way Colorado conducts its elections with open primaries and ranked-choice voting (RCV) is pushing ahead, appearing increasingly likely to make it to the November ballot. At the same time, a grassroots campaign is collecting signatures to ban ranked-choice voting altogether and close Colorado’s primaries back to only partisan party voters. Near the end of April, the state Title Board approved multiple variations of a measure that would enact RCV and open primaries for most statewide and federal offices in the...

The Louisiana state Senate gave final approval to legislation to ban ranked-choice voting, joining the backlash to the expansion of an election process that has helped Democrats flip Republican-leaning House districts in Alaska and Maine. Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, is expected to sign it into law, making Louisiana the eighth state to enact legislation prohibiting ranked-choice voting. Critics say ranked-choice voting disenfranchises voters and can elect candidates who are not favored by the majority of the electorate.

If discarded ballots , inaccurate election results , and election outcomes that contradict the wishes of voters aren’t enough to make you distrust ranked-choice voting (RCV) , then maybe an endorsement from members of America’s communist party will. On Sunday, Drew Bradley and Ryan Krueger, two members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), penned an op-ed calling on the party to consider “ranked choice voting as part of the broad democratic struggle and an aspect of building a stronger Popular Front.” Under RCV, which critics often refer to as “rigged-choice...

Marylanders will be faced with untenable choices when they cast their votes during the primary election to select their representatives and leaders. We have lots of good candidates, but we have an election system incapable of discerning whom most voters support. Crowded fields of candidates are contesting each other for the nominations to the open seats in the U.S. House. In Maryland’s 3rd District, Democrats have 22 candidates to choose from, and Republicans have nine choices. Other races have anywhere from 3 to 16 candidates, including Baltimore City’s race for...

Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, wants to prohibit local governments from using ranked-choice voting in Louisiana. (Allison Allsop/ Louisiana Illuminator) Ranked-choice voting is so dangerous, according to one Louisiana state senator, that no voter should be allowed to use it — except for the tens of thousands of military voters who have used it for years. Senate Bill 101, sponsored by Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, advanced from the House Judiciary Committee in a 8-1 vote Wednesday and is pending on the House floor for final approval. Also called “instant...

Skokie voters may in the future be able to decide whether the village should adopt term limits for elected officials and whether the town should implement ranked choice voting. Mayor George Van Dusen introduced a resolution at the Village Board’s April 1 meeting to put term limits on the ballot in a referendum in the November 2024 election. Under the proposed language, village trustees, the clerk and the mayor could serve a maximum of three terms. The Village Board also considered a referendum that will allow voters to decide whether...

One referendum would impose three-term limits on all village positions — mayor, trustee and clerk — effectively allowing a resident to hold each of those positions for no more than 12 years each. The other proposal for the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot would swap Skokie to a ranked-choice voting system, also known as "instant runoff" elections. In that system, voters rank multiple candidates, and if no candidate wins a majority of No. 1 votes, the one with the fewest votes is eliminated, their votes are spread among remaining candidates based...

A ballot initiative that would bring ranked-choice voting to D.C. and allow independent voters to participate in party primaries cleared another hurdle Thursday when a D.C. Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit attempting to block the measure. In a ruling filed Thursday, Judge Carl E. Ross determined that the lawsuit was filed prematurely and affirmed the city’s motion to dismiss the case. The campaign to open up primaries to independent voters and bring ranked-choice voting to the city launched in May and later became known as Initiative 83. It would...