Texas Scorecard by Darrell Frost | March 31, 2023
The complex voting method is gaining popularity in progressive jurisdictions and has been blamed for conservative losses in the 2022 Alaska elections.Legislation to ban ranked-choice voting, a method that has been criticized as counterintuitive and confusing, was approved this week by the Texas Senate.
Senate Bill 921 by State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola) passed the state’s upper chamber by a vote of 21-9, receiving the approval of all 19 Republicans and Democrats César Blanco (El Paso) and Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (McAllen).
Ranked-choice voting, also called preferential voting, allows voters to rank candidates for an elected office in order of preference, eliminating the need for a runoff election in the event no one receives a majority. The votes are then reallocated among the remaining candidates after the least popular candidate is removed from the count. Oftentimes, elections administered through ranked-choice voting require multiple rounds of vote tallying before a candidate is determined to have received a majority. This process can take several weeks to complete.
Advocates for ranked-choice voting claim it increases voter participation, costs less, and provides more immediate results compared to the traditional method of selecting one choice for each race by eliminating the need for runoff elections. They also contend that it facilitates the election of “consensus” candidates who appeal to a wide range of voters instead of small but vocal contingents on the political extremes.
Opponents, however, say it actually suppresses participation and disenfranchises voters through “ballot exhaustion,” which refers to ballots being thrown out when a voter fails to rank all candidates and his first choice is eliminated. They also argue it is inherently confusing, reduces trust in the electoral process, and allows candidates who are not supported by a majority of voters to win elections.
While most elected offices in Texas require only a plurality of votes to determine a winner, some elections require a majority. For those elections, previous opinions issued by the Texas secretary of state and Texas attorney general state that Texas law currently prohibits the use of ranked-choice voting to determine a majority.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/ban-on-controversial-ranked-choice-voting-moves-through-texas-senate/
