We're celebrating Rank the Vote Ohio's 4-year anniversary with a hybrid event: You can join in-person at Columbus Public Library (Main Branch) or RSVP below to join virtually. While we're working to bridge divides with systemic reform through Ranked Choice Voting in future elections, this meeting's topic "Bridging Partisan Divides in Polarized Times" will feature partners more focused on bridging interpersonal divides during the current election season, with special guests from the Ohio Environmental Council, Braver Angels, Common Cause Ohio, and Faith in Public Life.

news.wosu.org/show/all-sides/2023-11-07/the-future-of-voting-in-ohio

cleveland.com/news/2023/10/former-sen-rob-portman-ranked-choice-voting-other-primary-election-reforms-could-reduce-political-polarization.html

wvxu.org/show/cincinnati-edition/2023-10-09/history-ranked-choice-voting-ohio-theresa-gavarone

ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/09/29/ohio-senators-consider-election-law-changes-to-close-primaries-prohibit-ranked-choice-voting

cleveland.com/opinion/2023/09/can-ranked-choice-voting-catch-mice-gene-krebs.html

nbc4i.com/news/your-local-election-hq/ohio-lawmaker-seeks-to-ban-ranked-choice-voting-as-republican-opposition-to-the-system-mounts

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3107841539799-editorial-ranked-choice-feared

SB 137 not only bans Ranked Choice Voting – it takes power away from voters and lets Statehouse politicians dictate how our communities are run.

Click here to sign and share the petition to protect Home Rule for Ohio communities!

Background: 

• A bill introduced at the Ohio Statehouse, SB 137, is part of a national disinformation campaign designed to prevent localities from making elections more free and fair with Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).
• As SB 137 acknowledges, RCV simply uses an instant runoff process to allow more parties/candidates to run, while requiring a majority to win.
• Ohio's current plurality-wins system is causing Ohioans to lose faith in democracy because it limits voter choices and fails to require a majority to win.
• SB 137 would effectively ban RCV at the local level by financially punishing communities for upholding majority rule. This power grab threatens the Home Rule Authority granted by the Ohio Constitution for local governments to make decisions based on their local needs and not a one-size-fits-all approach dictated by State Government.
• While SB 137 was introduced by a Republican from a deep red district at the urging of far-right megadonors, the bill is co-sponsored by a Democrat from a deep blue district who also fears fair competition.

Follow these links for more background by The Statehouse News Bureau and this editorial by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. 

Key messages for public education and educating decision-makers:

• SB 137 is big government overreach: SB 137 violates the spirit of Ohioans’ right to Home Rule by letting Statehouse politicians and bureaucrats tell localities how to run their elections.
• SB 137 is August's Issue One all over again: Politicians are trying to take power away from voters and give it to themselves. 
• RCV = majority rule and improved elections: RCV means candidates win with support from a majority of voters. It mitigates the “spoiler effect” and rewards more positive, more issues-focused campaigning.
• RCV strengthens winning candidates. Election winners can lead with confidence because they’ve won a majority of support. Some state parties like Virginia Republicans use RCV to elect stronger nominees with broader appeal.
• Voters – including Republicans – like and understand RCV: Over 80% of voters in Alaska & Utah found RCV “simple” and “easy” after using it. A majority of Virginia Republicans who used RCV in the 2022 primaries said they preferred RCV.
• RCV is a 100-year-old Ohio-grown voting system: Five Ohio cities used RCV in the last century before repeal efforts were led by corrupt politicians and party bosses. The bill's sponsor acknowledged that the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 1923 that Ohio municipalities and charter counties have a right to use RCV, which is why the bill withholds Local Government Funds in order to "effectively prohibit" RCV through coercion.
• Ohioans – including conservatives – support Home Rule and small government: Classic conservatives believe Home Rule for local self-government is sacred because decisions impacting local communities should be made at the level closest to The People.
• SB 137's ban on RCV in municipal elections would harm urban Republicans: Major Ohio cities effectively have one-party rule, but RCV would allow more Republicans, Independents, and other candidates across the political spectrum to compete.

Republican opposition to similar bills in other states:

• North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum: "If we truly believe in limited government and local control, we can begin by honoring the boundaries, intent and spirit of home rule charters, especially when there is no evidence of any harm having occurred from trusting the residents of cities to have self-determination within the bounds of their home rule charters."
• Montana Rep. George Nikolakakos: “It’s very simple. It’s very easy… It’s passed in Maine. It’s passed in Alaska. It’s passed in states where people still have an independent mind like we do in Montana … Independent-minded people like Ranked Choice Voting... and we should not override local control for a type of voting that is basically just an instant runoff.”
• Montana Rep. Paul Green: “I don’t believe that I have the capacity to tell another local community how they go about their elections. For that I’m gonna be a No.”

Responding to misinformation:

RCV is simple, not confusing

• 92% of Minneapolis voters said RCV is simple. 
• 85% of Alaska voters reported that RCV is “simple” in their first RCV election.
• 81% of Utah voters said RCV is easy in their first RCV election.

RCV is driven by the grassroots in Ohio, not outside interests.

• RCV has been supported for years by politically diverse volunteers in Ohio.
• Opposition to RCV is pushed by out-of-state special interests.

RCV is in line with the Founders’ intentions and “one person, one vote.”

• Our Constitution and laws have always left election rules up to states and municipalities. These are “laboratories of democracy,” and the way we’ve run elections has changed over the years.
• Our Founders intended to create a system of governance by consensus, which would be helped by majority-wins elections, and they warned against the two-party factionalism that evolved from plurality-wins elections.
• RCV has been upheld as "one person, one vote" every time it has been legally challenged. Your one vote may simply transfer to your next choice, like in a runoff, without having another election because you already list your backup choices. As the League of Women Voters explains, RCV actually upholds "one person, one vote" better than plurality-wins elections because your vote is more likely to help elect a winner instead of being wasted.

RCV results can be determined quickly and transparently. 

• The majority of RCV jurisdictions – including Utah cities, Minneapolis, and San Francisco – release RCV results the night of or day after the election.
• Where results have been slower, it has been a result of state policy and choices made by local election administrators to allow time for absentee ballots to come in, which has nothing to do with RCV. The actual RCV tabulation takes seconds. 
• RCV results can be counted or verified through a hand count. The Virginia GOP used paper ballots for RCV contests in 2021 and 2022.

Further Reading:

Coverage of SB 137 in the news: Cleveland Plain Dealer article (7/21/23), Statehouse News Bureau article (7/25/23), WVXU analysis (7/26/23), Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial (7/30/23), Toledo Blade Editorial (8/1/23), NBC4 story (8/2/23), WVXU Story (10/9/23), Ohio Capital Journal article (12/29/23), WTVG 13 Action News video (2/21/24), Rolling Stone article (2/29/24)

Conservative pushback against attacks on RCV: Former Sen. Rob Portman, Former Ohio Rep. Gene Krebs, Kevin Kosar of the American Enterprise Institute, Matt Germer of the R Street Institute, Jonathan Bydlak of the R Street Institute, Walter Olson of the CATO Institute, former State GOP Chairs Saul Anuzis & Stan Lockhart

Click here to sign and share the petition to defend Ohio communities from big government overreach!

cleveland.com/opinion/2023/07/ranked-choice-voting-works-in-some-other-states-in-ohio-its-fodder-for-a-publicity-stunt-editorial.html

wvxu.org/politics/2023-07-26/analysis-ohio-republicans-ban-rank-choice-voting

statenews.org/government-politics/2023-07-25/republican-lawmaker-proposes-stripping-money-from-ohio-communities-that-pass-ranked-choice-voting

cleveland.com/news/2023/07/could-ranked-choice-voting-promote-civil-discourse-of-course-theres-disagreement-over-it.html

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) isn't new to Ohio. RCV was used in five Ohio cities (Cleveland, Ashtabula, Toledo, Hamilton, and Cincinnati) between 1913 and 1960 before it became a victim of its own success – RCV led to more accurate representation for women and people of color, as well as a greater diversity of ideologies, before corrupt party bosses aligned with racist groups to repeal it.

Cleveland adopted a form of RCV for single-member ward seats in 1913 – then called the "preferential ballot" like in Australia, where RCV has been used since 1918. In 1915, Ashtabula became the first city in America to use RCV with multi-member districts to achieve proportional representation. Good governance groups like the League of Women Voters helped expand RCV to other cities. Cleveland's first women councilmembers were elected with RCV, as were the first Black councilmembers in Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Toledo. In Cincinnati, Ted Berry rose to prominence as a councilman under RCV, but party bosses and the KKK conspired to repeal RCV in attempt to stop Berry from becoming Cincinnati's first Black mayor. RCV was ahead of its time then, but Ohio can bring back RCV to achieve fair and responsive representation.

Ted Berry was elected to Cincinnati City Council under RCV, but his popularity led to racial backlash repealing RCV. He remained a lifelong supporter of RCV.

Marie Wing, an independent reform candidate, was one of the first women elected to Cleveland City Council. No woman had ever been elected in Cleveland before RCV. Eight women were elected over the course of just five elections that used RCV. After repeal, no women were elected for 18 years.

James B. Simmons Jr. was the first African American elected to Toledo City Council. He and Toledo's Black community were some of the strongest supporters of RCV and proportional representation until RCV was repealed.

You can learn more about the history of RCV in Ohio from:

FairVote: The Forgotten Results and Future Promise of Ranked Choice Voting in Ohio

Sightline: How Proportional Representation Gave American Voters Meaningful Representation in the 1900s

FairVote: Remembering the Legacy of Ted Berry

Ohio Libraries: Proportional Representation and Election Reform in Ohio by Kathleen L. Barber

Episode on "Ranked Choice Voting with Kyle Herman from Rank the Vote Ohio": audacy.com/podcast/united-she-stands-155ce/episodes/ranked-choice-voting-with-kyle-herman-from-rank-the-vote-ohio-efaef

toledoblade.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2023/05/05/to-the-editor-preserve-citizen-led-democracy/stories/20230505004

Coverage by the Chronicle-Telegram of our talk at Oberlin with the League of Women Voters: chroniclet.com/news/350096/league-of-women-voters-talk-ranked-choice-voting/

In Progress. Contact Kyle Herman ([email protected]) to help volunteer! 

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