In the upcoming June 16th primaries, all D.C. voters will use a ranked choice ballot. What does this mean and how are community members reacting? Kenyatta Smith, the engagement and outreach director of Rank the District, spoke to community members about ranked choice voting at the April 23rd meeting of ANC 7B.
Following the 2024 election, cycle in D.C. initiative 83 was passed by 73 percent of D.C. voters which switched D.C.’s voting system to ranked choice voting. Ranked choice voting will be used in the upcoming primary election on June 16. According to Rank the District, a nonprofit focused on voter education, ranked choice voting will give D.C. voters more choices, create positive campaigning and will ensure majority support in elections.
How does ranked choice voting work?
Ranked choice voting allows voters to vote for their top three to five candidates. On the ballot, candidates appear on the left and choices 1 through 5 on the top. First, voters will select their favorite candidate as candidate number one, then rank backup choices 2 through 5. Voters do not have to rank more than one candidate.
Ranked votes stay with the first choice until they are eliminated from the race. Then a dropdown method is used, and votes move along to voter’s second, third, fourth and fifth choices. Using the ranked choice voting method, a candidate has to win 50% of the vote to win the election.
“With ranked choice voting, voters are going to have to do more candidate education; it’s not just one and done,” said Smith. With voters having to educate themselves more on candidates, campaign strategies will shift as well. “Candidates have to step outside of their natural campaigning zone, so voters and candidates, we’re going to have to work a little bit harder and overly educate ourselves,” Smith said.
Changing the election landscape
Although ranked choice voting was adopted by a majority vote in 2024, some pushback was expressed by community members at the April 23 meeting. Some were concerned that if voters opted to vote for one candidate, their ballots would be thrown out. Smith assured residents that this was not true.
In previous elections, candidates were elected by small margins, meaning that nearly 80% of voters did not vote to elect them. “I support ranked choice voting because I do not believe that winner takes all is what’s happening in D.C. Winning by 19, 20 percent is not a winner taking all, and it means your community didn’t vote for you.”
Other community members admitted confusion in trying to understand how ranked choice voting works. Some noted that, as they’re trying to figure things out, they’d prefer that things remain “the person with the most votes wins.”
Smith acknowledged that for generations who have been voting a certain way, ranked choice voting could be a big shift. She also claimed it was promoting interest in voting for the youth. “I have engaged a lot of people specifically east of the river – young voters who are intrigued by this, and it’s actually encouraging them to come out and vote.”
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Featured image/photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash.