Ranked Choice Voting Sweeps on Election Day 2023
November 8, 2023 – It’s been another historic election year for ranked choice voting (RCV):
- Three cities in Michigan – Kalamazoo, East Lansing, and Royal Oak – voted to adopt RCV. 71% of Kalamazoo voters, 52% of East Lansing voters, and 51% of Royal Oak voters voted for RCV.
- Minnetonka, MN and Easthampton, MA voted to keep or expand RCV.
- RCV was used successfully in 11 cities across six states, including for the first time in Boulder, CO. 10 more cities will use RCV later in the month, when Utah holds its Election Day on November 21.
Ranked choice voting is the fastest-growing nonpartisan voting reform in the nation; with yesterday’s ballot wins, it has won 27 city ballot measures in a row.
“Election Day 2023 showed once again that voters want ranked choice voting,” said Deb Otis, Director of Research and Policy at FairVote. “American voters are dissatisfied with our politics, and in 27 city ballot measures in a row, they’ve said ‘yes’ to better choices, better campaigns, and better representation. Everywhere it’s used, voters like and understand RCV, taking advantage of the opportunity to vote honestly and express more choices. We’ll continue this progress later this month in Utah and again in 2024, when at least Oregon and Nevada will vote on adopting RCV statewide and five states and territories are poised to use RCV for their presidential primaries.”
Ballot Measures
- Ranked choice voting continues to grow across the nation, moving from just 10 cities in 2016 to approximately 50 jurisdictions now (including the states of Alaska and Maine).
- Kalamazoo, East Lansing, and Royal Oak, MI – home to about 180,000 Michiganders – voted to adopt RCV.
- Voters in Minnetonka, MN reaffirmed their support for RCV – overwhelmingly voting to keep the better election method after first voting to adopt it in 2020. Notably, 59% of Minnetonka voters voted to keep RCV; the ballot measure to adopt it passed with just 55%.
- Voters in Easthampton, MA voted to expand RCV to multi-winner city council elections with 62% support. Easthampton already uses RCV for mayor and single-winner council seats.
Ranked Choice Voting in Action
- A total of 21 cities are using RCV during this month’s elections across seven states (CO, DE, MA, ME, MN, NM, and UT). 10 of those cities – all in Utah – will use RCV in elections on November 21.
- The largest cities in Maine and Minnesota used RCV in their elections.
- The largest city in Utah (Salt Lake City) will elect its mayor with RCV for the first time on November 21.
- Boulder, CO successfully used RCV for the first time, in the city’s first direct mayoral election.
While cities like Salt Lake City, Boulder, Portland (ME), Minneapolis, and Las Cruces are quickly identifying majority winners in single RCV elections this November, voters in Houston – our nation’s fourth-largest city – will have to go back to the polls to vote in a runoff next month. Louisiana voters will also return to the polls for statewide runoffs next Saturday. Ranked choice voting would be a faster, cheaper, and better alternative.
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FairVote is a nonpartisan organization seeking better elections for all. We research and advance voting reforms that make democracy more functional and representative for every American.
