Democrats Aim to Bring Ranked-Choice Voting Confusion to Virginia Elections

Virginia Senate Democrats passed a bill (SB 1009) on Feb. 3 to expand ranked-choice voting (RCV) in all local elections and place the burden of educating voters about the convoluted system on taxpayers statewide. The bill passed 21–19 along party lines and is headed to the House of Delegates, where Democrats hold a 2-seat majority.

RCV is a confusing voting process that drives down voter turnout and unfairly advantages establishment elites. If the bill becomes law, it will place Virginia on the path to adopting this billionaire-funded scheme to rig elections against Republicans.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed similar legislation last April, which did not extend the option to localities to adopt RCV in all local races. In his veto message he noted, "Concerns have been raised about its use in general elections where some voters have found it confusing." Youngkin said "legitimate questions" needed to be answered before moving forward on additional RCV legislation. 

In an RCV election, instead of voting for who they want to win, voters rank every candidate. If no candidate receives over 50 percent on the first count, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and the second choices of the last place finisher’s voters are distributed. This process continues for however many counts necessary until a candidate’s first and second-place votes total over 50 percent. This often results in unpopular candidates with higher name recognition winning who place second or third on the first count. If voters choose not to rank or don’t understand how it works, it gives educated elites and moderate voters without strong convictions more sway in elections.

Restoration News previously covered the 2020 Virginia law that allowed city councilmembers or county supervisors to enact RCV in their own races—a shameful, self-dealing set-up that allows entrenched incumbents to vote themselves a built-in advantage. SB 1009 would expand the 2020 law to apply to any local race if the governing body of that jurisdiction votes to enact it. 

It takes Virginia one step closer to enacting ranked-choice voting statewide.

Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim (D-Fairfax), the bill’s chief patron, played down the gravity of the bill during the Senate floor vote, calling it "a minor adjustment to the existing pilot program established in 2020." He added, "This bill would give localities the flexibility to include mayors and/or school boards in their ranked-choice adoption . . . This simply is giving localities another option on how they want to have their local elections."

Since the 2020 bill's adoption, only the most lopsided Democrat locality in Virginia adopted RCV in time for the 2024 election, revealing the measure’s widespread unpopularity. If more councilmembers and supervisors refuse RCV in their local jurisdictions, Democrats must be banking on serious astroturfing funded by wealthy donors to convince them to adopt it for mayor or to convince school boards to adopt it for themselves.

Almost all the major groups pushing for RCV in Virginia are groups with liberal or leftist ties like Upvote Virginia and the League of Women Voters. Like Democrats’ push for an independent redistricting commission—which notoriously backfired when Democrats took both the House and Senate in 2019—supporting RCV is a ploy to maintain their thin majorities in the General Assembly. Its supporters dress RCV up in high-minded nonpartisanship, but it’s telling that so few Republicans—and almost no conservatives—support it.

(RELATED: Virginia Republicans Go Rogue, Adopt Ranked-Choice Voting on the Sly—With Activist Support)

Bad for Everyone

If SB 1009 becomes law, it will burden taxpayers if more localities begin adopting RCV. The bill adds that the State Board of Elections "shall produce generalized voter education materials on ranked choice voting that shall be published on its website and shall assist any locality that has made the decision to conduct elections by ranked choice voting in developing voter education materials specific to that locality upon request."

Educating voters on a new system of voting requires significant resources considering most voters have been out of school longer than last year’s graduating class has been alive. When Maine became the first state to adopt RCV, its proponents felt compelled to create a 19-page manual on how to vote.

If SB 1009 passes—and if RCV ever gained traction statewide—it'll burden every Virginian taxpayer with the costs of educating voters on how to use this unfamiliar, confusing system.

According to Lauren Eddy, general registrar and director of elections in Albemarle County, it would cost her county of 116,000 residents $70,000 for software equipment and voter education. And that’s only with city councilmembers and supervisors’ races in mind. That cost would rise exponentially if all the county’s mayoral and school board races adopted RCV. 

The misguided 2020 law expires in 2031 without reauthorization. The fact only Arlington and Charlottesville have adopted it shows Virginians do not support this top-down push by elites to entrench established interests. SB 1009 seeks to keep RCV on life support, and if it passes the House of Delegates, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) should veto it. The first past-the-post system that has worked for decades is not only better because people understand it; it’s better because it rewards grassroots voter participation. RCV would reward establishment-backed candidates in both parties who come in second place.

(READ MORE: Voters Roundly Reject Ranked-Choice Voting Despite Millions from Megadonors)