Seattle narrowly approves ranked-choice voting

About 51% of voters stated Seattle ought to change its major voting system away from the state’s top-two major and 49% stated no to the change, with a vote hole of virtually precisely 6,000 votes.

The outcomes on the second poll query have been a lot clearer: 76% stated the brand new major system must be ranked-choice voting and 24% selected approval voting.

Ranked-choice voting permits folks to rank candidates on their poll in numerical order of choice. Approval voting lets voters choose as many candidates as they need, however assigns no rank to these decisions.

Almost 50 cities and counties within the U.S. at present enable voters to pick or rank a number of candidates in elections, and two states – Alaska and Maine – use some model of ranked-choice for all elections. 

Voters in San Juan County rejected the same proposal this November to undertake ranked-choice voting with 57% of ballots rejecting the concept. As did voters in Clark County, with 58% of voters rejecting the concept.

Supporters of ranked-choice voting consider letting voters choose a number of candidates might remove the “spoiler impact”: when two candidates with related positions lose to a 3rd candidate {that a} majority of voters aren’t proud of. This strategy has additionally been proven to extend the range of candidates and might probably scale back polarization.

Based on FairVote, a company that pushes for election reform, voters in Portland, Oregon, and Portland, Maine, in addition to cities in California, Illinois and Colorado additionally permitted ranked-choice voting this election season. 

FairVote Washington, which pushed for ranked-choice voting after the Seattle Metropolis Council put the measure on the poll, celebrated the election victory every week in the past. Stephanie Houghton, managing director of the group, stated their subsequent cease would be the Washington Legislature. 

“We’re taking this momentum to the Legislature the place we are able to do much more to empower voters with extra voice and extra selection,” Houghton stated in a written assertion.

Native poll initiatives aren’t topic to obligatory recounts, in line with Halei Watkins, a spokeswoman for King County Elections. For votes to be recounted for this poll measure, a gaggle of registered voters or a marketing campaign would wish to request and pay for it. A requested recount requires a paid deposit of 15 cents per poll for a machine recount or 25 cents a poll for a hand recount, Watkins stated. 

“If the result of the race is unchanged — as is often the case — the requestor is liable for all excellent prices related to the recount,” she stated, noting that recount historical past in King County could be discovered on the division’s web site.