Ranked Choice Voting is confusing to most voters, it is a strategic game at best as voters will have to not only choose their favorite candidate, but they will have to guess who is likely to win and factor that into 2nd and 3rd choices, to have their vote count at all.

Three Democrat Legislators have introduced ‘Ranked Choice Voting’ bills for this 2021 Legislature to consider. Senator Jeff Golden (D-Ashland), Senator Michael Dembrow (D-Portland) and Representative Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis) brought this counting scheme to us. Ranked Choice Voting is only used in Alaska and Maine for selection of their state and congressional members per the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some other cities use it for their local elections.

On Tuesday The Senate Rules Committee will hear SB 343 which permits counties to adopt ranked-choice voting to conduct county elections and SB 791 which establishes ranked choice voting as voting method for selecting winner of nomination for and election to nonpartisan state offices and county and city offices except where home rule charter applies.

A traditional run off race is more definite if a clear winner is not selected on the first vote. In a second separate race, everyone is fully informed as to their choice of governing authority selection. That is why we have a primary vote in the first place. Ranked Choice Voting would require ballot counting tabulators that can do the recalculating of the results that would be necessary as late votes are accumulated. We already have enough mistrust of these machines after the last Presidential Election. Votes were proven to be defective in Michigan due to the fact that the Ranked Choice Voting algorithm of ’weighted votes” was in enabled for the calculation.

The National Conference of State Legislatures lists the pros and cons for Ranked Choice Voting and one of them is that the legislature will have to supply the machines that can accommodate the software that can do the weighted tabulation. The state will also have to educate the public as to how this election will work. Among the difficulties with this system they list the following concerns:

“Arguments against RCV Fairness is in the eye of the beholder. Who’s to say that winning with a plurality but not a majority is a problem? In addition, if a voter decides to only vote for one candidate and not rank the others (sometimes called “bullet” voting), and the counting goes to a second level, the voter’s ballot would be “exhausted” and may not count at all, thus nullifying that citizen’s vote.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A Polarized Populace. While supporters argue that ranked choice forces candidates to appeal for second- and third- place votes, doubters say that today’s polarized environment likely means voters won’t cross the aisle in significant numbers anyway.

A Complex System. Because RCV is a divergence from the traditional and historical voting method in the United States there are concerns that the voting populace will not be properly educated about the new system. This could lead to frustration by voters and the possibility that voters will not properly complete their ballots and have their votes nullified if they only vote for one candidate and that candidate does not advance beyond the first round.”

In conclusion, Ranked Choice Voting not only has the problems listed above but is a great threat to our election security as it will require the use of ‘weighted ballot counting” option in our counting tabulators. Knowledge of these settings are off limits for the public to know. This setting is part of the Secretary of State Shemia Fagan's secret security plan and only election officials can know it. How will voters know if it is turned off or on for other races? Voters expect to have the vote counted as one vote, not directed whole or in part to another candidate.


--Janice Dysinger

Post Date: 2021-03-15 08:09:20

Last Update: 2021-03-15 14:40:35