The Oklahoma House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, approved a bill on Wednesday that bars the use of ranked-choice voting in elections.
HB 3156 The bill specifies that no election in Oklahoma conducted by the State Election Board, a county election board, or any authorized municipality can use ranked choice voting, ranked voting, proportional ranked voting, preferential voting, or instant runoff voting. It was passed in a certain vote count, with Republican Rep. Marcus McEntire and 15 Democrats opposing. 63-16 voteThe bill will now move to the Senate for consideration.
Ranked-choice voting involves voters ranking candidates by preference. If no candidate gets over 50 percent of first-choice votes in the initial round, the candidate in last place is eliminated, and their votes go to the voter's next-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.
HB 3156 would also cancel any current or future ordinance approved by local government allowing ranked-choice voting. Elections carried out using the system would be invalidated.
If a locality violates that rule, the secretary of the Oklahoma Elections Board, along with the Senate president pro tempore and House speaker, could take legal action to enforce the law. Currently, no locality in Oklahoma uses ranked-choice voting for elections, according to Oklahoma Watch.
The bill sponsor and Republican Rep. Eric Roberts has stated that HB 3156 is needed to maintain the simplicity and speed of current elections and hand recounts when necessary. Roberts claimed that ranked-choice voting is confusing and has caused delays in election results wherever it has been tested. GOP Sen. Brent Howard also supports the measure.
Various U.S. municipalities that have adopted ranked-choice voting have encountered confusing and sometimes incorrect election results. For example, in an Oakland school board race, election officials admitted – two months later – that they had miscounted, leading to the correct winner eventually taking the seat. In addition, a Utah town that used a ranked-choice voting pilot program for its 2021 municipal elections had a high number of discarded or spoiled ballots. A report published by the Foundation for Government Accountability last year revealed that ranked-choice voting ballots are often discarded due to 'ballot exhaustion,' which occurs when voters only choose one candidate on their ballot, resulting in those ballots being invalidated because their first choice didn't win a majority in the first round. For instance, in Alaska's 2022 special congressional election, over 11,000 'exhausted' ballots were discarded because the voters only selected one Republican candidate and no one else.RCV has also been found to generate election results that seem to go against what voters want. Democrat Mary Peltola said the previously mentioned special Alaska congressional race in 2022 despite “almost 60 percent of voters [casting] their votes for a Republican.” A similar situation occurred in a 2018 Maine congressional race, where the incumbent GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin lost to Democrat Jared Golden even though Poliquin received the most votes in the first round of voting.
If approved by the Senate and signed into law by GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma would be the sixth state to outlaw the use of RCV. Other sponsor areas
that have banned the system include Florida, Idaho, Tennessee, Montana, and South Dakota. The GOP-controlled House of Representatives in Oklahoma passed a bill on Wednesday that forbids the use of ranked-choice voting in elections.. In an Oakland school board race, for instance, “election officials announced — two months after the fact — that they got the count wrong,” resulting in the “rightful winner … suing for his seat.” Meanwhile, a Utah town that used an RCV pilot program for its 2021 municipal elections experienced high rates of ballots being discarded or spoiled.
In the Genola City Council Race 1, for example, “58% of ballots were either discarded out of hand or otherwise spoiled,” while the Genola City Council Race 2 “had a discarded or spoiled rate of over 74%.”
A study published by the Foundation for Government Accountability last year found that RCV ballots are often discarded due to “ballot exhaustion,” a term used to describe when voters select only one candidate on their ballot, and those ballots are tossed because their first choice didn’t win a majority in the first round. In Alaska’s 2022 special congressional election, for example, more than 11,000 “exhausted” ballots were thrown out because those electors “voted for only one Republican candidate and no one else.”
RCV has also been shown to produce election results that appear to contradict the desires of voters. Democrat Mary Peltola won the aforementioned 2022 Alaska special congressional race even though “nearly 60 percent of voters [cast] their ballots for a Republican.” A similar scenario played out in a 2018 Maine congressional race, in which then-incumbent GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin lost to Democrat Jared Golden despite Poliquin winning the most votes in the first round of voting.
If passed by the Senate and signed into law by GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma would become the sixth state to ban the use of RCV. Other jurisdictions that have prohibited the system include Florida, Idaho, Tennessee, Montana, and South Dakota.
