Ranked-choice voting could soon become illegal in Louisiana. State lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would ban the practice. Supporters of the bill argue that ranked-choice voting leaves the system vulnerable to fraud, while opponents insist it is the best way to represent the will of voters.
The topic is therefore vital The invoice could dictate how local governments conduct their elections and require a unified solution. However, it could also simplify the election process.
Senate Bill 101, introduced by Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, passed the House 74-22 and will be sent back to the Senate for approval before being sent to Gov. Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it into law.
The vote was largely along party lines, with all Republicans voting in favor of the proposal and most Democrats voting against it, except for Reps. Roy Daryl Adams of Jackson, Marcus Bryant of New Iberia, Robby Carter of Amite and Steven Jackson of Shreveport.
Miguez’s bill bans local governments from using ranked-choice voting, except for military personnel from other states, who have used the method in Louisiana elections for decades.
Ranked voting, also known as instant runoff voting, allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference rather than just selecting one candidate. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the initial votes, he or she wins the election.
However, under this system, if no candidate achieves a majority in the first round of voting, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated from the race. Voters who chose the eliminated candidate as their first choice would have their votes transferred to the second choice candidate. This elimination process continues until one candidate finally receives more than half of the votes.
State Sen. Blake Miguez, a Republican, sponsored the bill. argue that ranked-choice voting was a complicated system and claimed that it had resulted in thousands of “destroyed ballots” in Alaska and Maine.
Secretary of State Nancy Landry claimed that military members who operate ranked choice voting dislike the process. She said the method was only necessary because of the miniature time between the primary and runoff elections.
State Senator Sam Jenkins argued that the process “could become difficult for voters to understand.”
Conversely, advocates of ranked-choice voting claim that it can produce an outcome that more voters can be cheerful with. Will Martel, communications director for Fair Vote, countered Miguez’s claim about “destroyed ballots” argued that the method was a better representation of how people chose candidates. He claimed that Miguez’s statement was “like saying that 35% of ballots were ‘disposed of’ in the Louisiana Secretary of State or the Louisiana AG (Attorney General) race last year because fewer people in voted in the runoff election.”
Columnist Will Sutton pointed out that “More than a dozen states are using some form of RCV, either statewide or in cities or political parties.” He cited the Louisiana gubernatorial election as an example:
Jeff Landry won the gubernatorial primary with 52% of the vote in a field of 15 candidates. Had Louisiana chosen ranked-choice voting, Landry likely would have prevailed without any “second choice” votes. But he might have run his campaign differently to secure a victory by seeking second-place votes.
The bill goes to the House of Representatives and, if passed, to Gov. Jeff Landry’s desk for his signature.
