Six States Say No To Ranked Choice Measures
Last Tuesday was a reckoning for ranked choice voting (RCV) advocates, as voters in six states – Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon – sent the reform packing.
Despite the efforts of national groups and millions of dollars invested in campaigns promising that RCV would strengthen democracy, voters soundly rejected the idea. The setbacks didn’t end there: Alaska seems likely to repeal RCV after just two years of experimenting with it, and Missouri became the first state to proactively ban RCV by popular vote, joining ten others with similar restrictions.
RCV is a complex system that departs from the straightforward “one person, one vote” principle. Voters are asked to rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and votes for that candidate are redistributed to voters' next choices. This process repeats until someone secures a majority.
The process not only lengthens voting times but also complicates ballot counting, as final results can’t be tabulated until every ballot is in, potentially well after Election Day in states that accept late-arriving mail-in ballots. Some states, like Idaho, would even need costly equipment upgrades to handle this system—Idaho’s secretary of state estimated a staggering $40 million for the transition.
Counting complexities aside, RCV has led to puzzling results. A notable example occurred in Oakland, California, in 2022, when a clerical error resulted in the wrong winner being certified. The confusing mechanics of RCV can also propel second- or third-place candidates to victory, leaving voters scratching their heads and fueling criticism that the process is anything but democratic.
It’s no surprise that voters in politically diverse states found little appeal in RCV’s complexity. In conservative Idaho, nearly 70% rejected it outright. Even in liberal-leaning Colorado and Oregon, opposition was strong, with the measures failing by double digits. Swing states Arizona and Nevada were no more welcoming.
Meanwhile, almost 69% of Missouri voters supported a preemptive ban, while Alaska’s repeal measure seems set to succeed despite almost $15 million from RCV’s deep-pocketed supporters to defend it.
What’s driving this big-money push? Left-wing megadonors like billionaire John Arnold and his wife, Laura, poured nearly $39 million into RCV campaigns this year, backing a national agenda to change voting methods. In total, nearly $99 million—almost $30 for every dollar spent by opponents—was funneled into the pro-RCV efforts. Yet even this jaw-dropping sum couldn’t sway voters, whose concerns about fairness, transparency, and effectiveness prevailed.
The lone victory for RCV supporters came in Washington, D.C., where a citywide measure passed easily. But for those trying to make RCV more appealing to mainstream America, “they use it in the swamp” isn’t exactly a selling point.
Is this the end for ranked choice voting? The recent losses suggest a turning tide, but RCV backers are already preparing their next move. Historically, defeats haven’t stopped them; after a $10 million loss in Massachusetts in 2020, they simply regrouped, rebranding RCV as “instant runoffs” and “open primaries” and spending even more this year. Advocates are now hinting at a shift in strategy, focusing on lobbying state legislatures to implement RCV, sidestepping voters altogether.