Initiative to bring ranked-choice voting to D.C. cleared for November ballot

D.C. voters will decide in November whether to make major changes to the city’s elections system after the D.C. Board of Elections on Friday certified a ballot initiative that, if approved, would bring ranked-choice voting and semi-open primaries to the District.

The board voted to place Initiative 83 on the ballot after finding supporters had gathered enough valid signatures to qualify.

The initiative will jointly ask voters to open primary elections to registered independents — who can’t participate in them — and to change how votes are tallied through ranked-choice voting. That method allows voters to rank up to five candidates in order of preference and is intended to ensure that the winner receives at least 50 percent of the vote.

Proponents are seeking to convince fellow voters that those changes would expand democracy and require politicians to work harder for votes in all pockets of the city. But the effort will have to overcome significant pushback from opponents, who either want to keep primaries strictly for party members or see ranked-choice voting as an unnecessary change that could hamper voters.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/08/02/dc-initiative-83-ranked-choice-voting/