Colorado Hasn’t Even Approved Ranked Choice Voting Yet, and Already Lawmakers Are Trying To Delay It
When Coloradans head to the polls in November, they’ll be voting on more than just which uninspiring geriatric to send back to the White House. They may also get to pick an entirely different way to vote, by adopting ranked choice voting. But state lawmakers want to delay the effort before the vote can even happen.
Ranked choice voting (RCV) is not a new concept, but it has gained traction in the past few years. On a traditional ballot, voters pick one candidate per office, and whoever gets the most votes is the winner—in most states, even if they don’t win an outright majority.
But on an RCV ballot, voters can rank each candidate in order of preference. If one candidate gets over 50 percent of the votes, then that candidate wins. But if no candidate gets an outright majority, then the lowest performer is eliminated, and all ballots that picked him first are retallied with their second choices counted. This continues until a majoritarian winner is declared.
RCV is now used statewide in Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine, plus localities in fourteen other states have also approved its use—including Colorado towns like Boulder and Fort Collins.
Colorado Initiative 310 would authorize the process statewide. Starting in 2026, in an effort to “have more choice to elect candidates who better reflect the will of a majority of the voters,” the proposal would replace party primaries for state and federal offices with a “primary election featuring all candidates for those state and federal offices, with the final four candidates advancing to the general elections,” where voters could rank the four in their preferred order.
Ranked choice voting is not without detractors: “I will oppose this effort to rig our electoral system in Colorado with everything I have,” tweeted Rep. Lauren Boebert (R–Colo.) after the measure was announced. “Ranked choice voting
Article from Reason.com
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