A bill that standardizes rules for local governments adopting ranked choice voting systems is on the schedule this week.

Ranked choice voting is a system that allows voters to rank multiple candidates for a single office in order of preference. If a voter’s top candidate does not meet a certain threshold to remain in the race, their vote is transferred to the next candidate in their order of preference and so on, until there is a winner with a majority of votes. The aim of the voting system is to allow voters to avoid “wasted votes” and advance candidates that have a broader base of support. Proponents of the system also argue that it improves civility in elections since it incentivizes candidates to get ranked highly by voters even if they are not the first choice.

HB 1448, is sponsored by Rep. Mia Gregerson (D–SeaTac). The bill gives counties, cities, towns, school districts, fire districts, and port districts the option to adopt ranked choice voting for some or all of its offices in an election. Ranked choice voting is not mandated for local governments, but if it is adopted it must follow the standards laid out in the bill. The costs of implementing ranked choice voting are borne by the jurisdiction using the system. The bill is similar to legislation that has been proposed in previous sessions, including last year.

Under the bill, ranked choice voting cannot be used in elections with two or fewer candidates. The bill lays out requirements for local ranked choice voting systems, including:

• The county auditor must design a ballot allowing voters to rank candidates for office in order of preference, including a write-in option.
• The county auditor must allow ranking of at least 5 candidates for a given office
• All votes must be counted regardless of how many candidates a voter chooses to rank for a given office.
• Procedures for addressing skipped rankings, invalid write-ins, candidates ranked the same, and resolving ties.
• In “single-winner races,” the winner of each contest must be determined using an instant runoff method. In “multi-winner races,” winners are decided using the single transferrable vote method.

In single-winner ranked choice races, a primary must be held (not using ranked choice) to narrow the field to the top 5 candidates for the general election. The Secretary of State must adopt rules administering the adoption and use of ranked choice voting. The bill also creates a Ranked Choice Voting Work Group to advise the Secretary of State on implementation rules, support materials for local governments, and education materials for voters regarding ranked choice voting,

AWC supports local control over whether new voting systems are adopted. We will continue to monitor this and other elections bills impacting cities as the session progresses.

Dates to remember

HB 1448 is scheduled for a hearing in the House State Government & Tribal Relations Committee on January 28 at 1:30 pm.