Charlottesville, Virginia adopts ranked choice voting for 2025 elections
Yesterday, the Charlottesville, Virginia City Council officially passed legislation to adopt ranked choice voting (RCV) in local elections – making Charlottesville the second locality in Virginia to use ranked choice voting in government-run elections. Voters will use RCV in next June’s city council primary.
Former Charlottesville delegate Sally Hudson said that RCV is “a small change to ballots that makes a big difference for democracy” and that “Charlottesville can be proud we’re doing our part to make democracy better for the long haul.” In an op-ed published Tuesday, Hudson and former Charlottesville congressman Denver Riggleman called RCV a “critical step to a more perfect union.”
In 2020, Virginia passed a law sponsored by Hudson that allows localities to adopt RCV via a vote by the board of supervisors or city council. Virginia’s local options program serves as a great model for other states looking to give communities the freedom to try RCV.
UpVote Virginia Executive Director Liz White has noted RCV’s ability to encourage compromise and coalition building among representatives:
It changes the incentive structure that currently exists in our politics. Right now, we’re so divided and so polarized, partly because our elected officials get no reward from working together or compromising or even having real discussions about the problems that face voters, and ranked choice voting flips that incentive structure.
The adoption of RCV in Charlottesville is exciting for the city’s voters, and for other jurisdictions looking to improve democracy. Cities and states should draw inspiration from Virginia’s local options program, and the success that Arlington, Virginia voters have already experienced with RCV in both government-run elections and party-run primaries.
For the latest information on RCV and ways to support the nation’s fastest-growing election reform, join an RCV group in your state today!
