While Alaska voters have been working to get signatures needed to repeal ranked-choice voting in the 49th state, Oregon’s state legislators, in the closing hours of this year’s legislative session, took a step toward adopting a ranked-choice voting with the approval of House Bill 2004 on Sunday.
HB 2004 will be on the Oregon ballot in 2024, offering voters the chance to join Alaska and Maine in using ranked-choice voting method. If the referendum passes, both federal and statewide elections will use ranked-choice system, except for the presidential race, which is governed by federal election law. Local jurisdictions will have the option to implement it for their respective elections as well.
The Foundation for Government Accountability calls ranked-choice voting a “disaster.”
“Funded by the progressive Left, RCV advocacy organizations claim that this massive overhaul can improve voter confidence by providing more candidate choices, decreasing negative campaigning, and ensuring majority rule. But these are false promises, and the proliferation of RCV would be harmful to American elections,” the think tank says.
Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank their preferences, rather than simply make a single, binary choice. To secure a victory on the general election ballot in November, when the ranked-choice method is used, a candidate must receive more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate achieves an outright majority in the initial count, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and a process continues with the redistribution of votes based on the eliminated candidate’s supporters’ second choice. The process continues until one candidate emerges with a majority of the votes.
Alaska’s system, which includes open primaries, was jerry-rigged by the group of politicos that supported the reelection of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, because it was clear she would not be able to win a Republican primary. Open primaries and ranked-choice generals helped her win her seat, and also brought Alaska a Democrat in Congress — Rep. Mary Peltola.
Supporters of ranked-choice voting believe that its implementation will lead to fairer outcomes and enhance voter engagement.
Critics argue that the system is overly complicated, cannot be verified by hand counting, and that the retabulation of ballots delays the public knowing the final outcome, and that the system gives a bigger advantage to incumbents who are better known than challengers.
The group trying to repeal ranked-choice voting in Alaska, Alaskans for Honest Elections, have over 14,000 of the 27,000 signatures they need to get their initiative on the 2024 ballot.
Other jurisdictions are playing with the new voting bingo game — Nevada voters passed a measure to establish both open primaries and ranked choice voting like Alaska, but because it would change the state’s constitution, the voters must vote again on the measure. Seattle voters have switched to ranked-choice voting in their local municipal elections.
The single, binary choice defined by the law of the American land, the US Constitution – one man one vote. It’s as simple as that.
Go for it. Maybe it’ll screw then the way it did us, and they’ll accidentally elect a conservative.
I’ll say it again. One legal vote by one legal voter on one legal day at one legal polling place shoild be the gold standard
It should be, but that ship has sailed and we have to deal accordingly.
Oregon, please do not join the other idiot States that voted to nullify their votes through RCV. You will be making a big mistake. RCV is being pushed by dark money for a reason and that is to control your vote by placing the most radical people in office.
Does Scott Kendall have an Oregon Bar number?
He’s on paid retainer as an out of state consultant for RCV, even though his old boss…..Bill Walker, got his a– kicked by Mike Dunleavy in the 2022 governor’s race. I wonder if Bill Walker recommended Kendall to Oregon Democrats?
OK, this is pretty simple really.
One Person, one vote.
But, under RCV it is one person, up to four votes. Vote for the frontrunner, and you are done. But, vote for a loser, and your ballot is still in play.
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Oh… I know. It is no different than any other run off system, in fact, its better because it’s instant. No need to go out a second time to vote. BS. It is not even analogous.
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In a conventional runoff system, only the top two candidates appear on the run off ballot, not the top three or four. And, you have the opportunity to change your vote. Something that is not allowable under RCV.
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Frankly, RCV is voter suppression disguised as a benefit.
This could be the final nail in the coffin for Oregon, they are already a deeply liberal state, this could be what kills them. And if we don’t do away with it here in Ak, it will destroy us as well.
Ranked choice voting in Oregon? What’s the point? The left already runs everything there.
Just say ‘NO!’
Where can you sign up to repeal FCV? That was a huge mistake the uninformed made!
Of course Oreh-gahn is considering rank choice voting.
How can any polity be a proper leftist shithole without it?
Masked Avenger gets it at least.
If you favor conservative/right wing political outcomes, you should be in favor of Ranked Voting in deep blue states such as Oregon – while against it in Red states like Alaska.
RCV handicaps the majority party by effectively eliminating primaries and allowing crossover voting.
In Oregon, this will empower conservatives to swing close elections in favor of weaker Democrats and turf out the braindead Commies and Green candidates.
Get it through your heads – RCV is something you do to your political opponents on their home turf.
This is why democrats and fake ‘republicans’ in Alaska spent millions to fool Alaskans into narrowly approving RCV – while fighting tooth and nail to shoot down RCV in California during the last election cycle.
That is an interesting perspective on rank choice voting, Apu!
——-only in your mind, what democrats will even put a Republican or Conservative as their third or fourth choice. They’ll vote for Santa clause. You are a dreamer.
Either reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit or you are attempting to confuse people. I didn’t say it would ‘lead to Republicans or conservatives’ getting elected in Oregon.
I said weaker/moderate Democrats will be elected over activists candidates further to the left, because conservative Oregon voters get to weigh in and rank the ‘lesser of two evils’. A weak Oregon Democrat that will compromise their principles is preferable to an activist, if you favor right wing outcomes.
Conservatives should support RCV in blue states (Oregon) and oppose it in red states (Alaska).
Ranked choice voting is nothing more than giving control of a portion of your vote to someone that thinks differently than you do. We’ve all heard the poignant colloquialisms. References to Occam’s Razor and the like and all can agree they have merit. The key element is that there are no positive sayings praising either ranked choice or other forms of unnecessary complexity.
They’re already Ore-Gone!
It has long amused me to see — well, to hear — how most Left Coasters, including and especially those from that state, simply can NOT pronounce the name “Oregon” properly, and as it was originally pronounced. It is “ORE-uh-GAHN”, and not “-gawn”, on the last syllable.
But in line with their leftist Canadian brethren, Left Coasters have in recent decades been conflating the vowel sounds “ah” and “aw”, with predictably confusing results (hint: if you pronounce the names “Don” and “Dawn” the same, then you are phonetically clueless and incorrect).
Count the ballots once and have a great time on election nights! What had happened? Use to be fun!
So if one or two conservatives get artificially voted in via RCV in Oregon does that mean that all those liberal californian voters will suddenly decide Heroine should be illegal and possession and use should result in jail?
They decriminalized nearly ALL drugs…Meth heroine crack cocaine. One in ten people in Oregon have some sort of drug/alcohol substance abuse issue or addiction
Not happening. Oregone has been lost to Californias way of thinking. There is no turning back.
All the college towns are extremely liberal masses with homeless problems galore and taxes soaring to pay for this large sector of the population degrading the entire social structure.
I was once proud to be from Oregon but not so any more. It is more of an embarrassment.
Devastating to even visit Oregon. It is like going to a funeral for a country knowing what a beautiful place it once was and now it has become dangerous with the drug addiction causing mental illness. What few true conservatives left are moving to Harney and Malhuer county where they are actively trying to Exit the state of Oregon and join Idaho just to escape the liberals.
Will Oregon ever recover? Possibly, but only after it crashes and burns.
The hope is (it’s faint, to be sure) if RVC starts electing alleged Republicans in blue states, the left will stop pushing it on the rest of us.
Will it reverse Oregon’s current course? Of course not. But maybe it will slow the roll in other places.
Meanwhile, RVC is here, and probably here to stay. We need to learn to do it better and faster than the left does.
Beat them at their own game, RVC goes away quicker than a rash.
The US Constitution allows States to determine how to conduct elections through the legislature. Some States such as Wisconsin have Constitutions that allow legislatures to effectively block referendums. SCOTUS just ruled that State legislatures can not change the rules for Federal elections. RCV has been ruled Constututional by SCOTUS in Maine and Alaska. It is up to Oregon voters not anonymous MRAK trolls on how Oregon should conduct their elections
Why? Democrats don’t even have to cheat to win elections in Oregon.
Where do we go to sign to get rid of this disaster?
Using your favorite search engine, look for Alaskans for Honest Elections.
They may as well enjoy their last real election. So sure the left will have an endless budget to advertise the merits as they did here. Like trying to stomp cockroaches.
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