North Dakota Becomes 15th State To Prohibit Ranked-Choice Voting In Elections
Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed legislation on Wednesday prohibiting the use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) in North Dakota elections, making it the 15th state to do so.
“Now more than ever, we need a consistent, efficient and easy-to-understand voter experience across our entire state to maintain trust in our election system,” Armstrong said in a statement. “This is one more in a series of proactive, common-sense steps our Secretary of State and Legislature have taken to support election integrity.”
HB 1297 stipulates that “[a]pproval voting or ranked-choice voting may not be used in an election held within [North Dakota] to elect or nominate a candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office.” Any existing “ordinance enacted or adopted” by North Dakota localities that “conflict” with this prohibition is now considered “void” under the new law.
Under RCV, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter’s second-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.
Meanwhile, approval voting is a system in which “voters may vote for any number of candidates they choose,” with the candidate “receiving the most votes” being the declared the winner, according to Ballotpedia. Until HB 1297’s enaction, the system was used in the city of Fargo. (Read more from “North Dakota Becomes 15th State To Prohibit Ranked-Choice Voting In Elections” HERE)
