Why do we need ranked choice voting in Virginia?
2023 was the least productive Virginia General Assembly session in two decades. Legislation to address climate, healthcare, broadband, and even the budget in Virginia stalled because of partisan gridlock. In our current system — both on a statewide and a national level, bipartisanship is not incentivized and candidates aren’t encouraged to build consensus around the issues that matter most to Virginians.
Ranked choice voting is a tool that can help solve some of these issues. Instead of picking just one candidate, a voter has the option to rank their candidates in order of preference — first, second, third, and so on. This rewards candidates who build coalitions, not those who rely on a narrow base of voters — resulting in more representative government, less polarization, and less partisan gridlock.
Because winning requires a majority of support, candidates may need to earn their opponents’ supporters’ second and third choice votes on the ballot. This encourages them to build a broad coalition of support by finding common ground and talking about the substance of issues, rather than negative campaigning. By building consensus, candidates are incentivized to focus on the issues that matter most to voters.
In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed HB1103, a pilot program that would allow local governing bodies (County Boards of Supervisors or City Councils) to use ranked choice voting for their future elections. Ranked choice voting was used by the Republican Party of Virginia in its statewide nominating elections in 2021, and Arlington became the first locality to adopt ranked choice voting for their County Board primaries in 2023.
At UpVote Virginia, we’re working across the Commonwealth to educate communities about the benefits of ranked choice voting in order to create a representative government to help the greatest number of people.
Interested in ranked choice voting in Virginia? Sign up to learn more or volunteer with us to spread the word about ranked choice voting.
