Will Arlington be the first to adopt RCV?
By Liz White, Executive Director
In 2020, the General Assembly passed HB1103 - a Ranked Choice Voting pilot program with bipartisan support. This bill was co-patroned by Del. Sally Hudson of Charlottesville and Del. Patrick Hope of Arlington, and allows local governing bodies (Boards of Supervisors or City Councils) to adopt Ranked Choice Voting for their own elections.
Despite being used in the parts of the U.S. as early as 1912 (and currently being used throughout the UK, Ireland, Australia, and India, among others), RCV is a new concept for some Virginia voters. New things can be scary, especially when it comes to voting, the cornerstone of our democracy. It’s extra-scary to be the first to take advantage of electoral reforms, but it looks like Arlington County might be on its way to doing just that.
County Board Chair Katie Cristol has previewed a proposal she plans to bring before her colleagues after the November election. This proposal would allow the use of RCV for County Board primary elections.
Currently, the two major parties can choose to select their County Board candidates through a government-run primary election OR they can hold a party-run primary contest like a caucus or convention. The Arlington Democrats have used RCV to choose their candidates in the past, but they’ve never had the option to use RCV and the Arlington electoral infrastructure.
If Cristol’s proposal is accepted by the Board, voters could have the opportunity to use RCV and still go to their usual polling place on Election Day - which would lead to less confusion and more participation plus all the benefits of RCV.
This is essentially a pilot program within a pilot program. It takes advantage of the opportunity presented by HB1103 with a laser focus on just one election. If Arlington voters like it (which data suggests they will), the Board can opt to use it again.
Over 50 localities in the U.S. use RCV for their local elections - from Utah to California to Minnesota to Colorado, and voters universally respond well to its benefits. RCV motivates candidates to campaign beyond their base and to build broad support. Negative campaigning is disincentivized, and issues and solutions have space to come to the forefront of the conversation. Data shows that candidates of color and female candidates benefit from RCV, and vote-splitting is a nonexistent problem.
The Arlington County Board is looking for feedback from constituents. Visit our Arlington page to learn more and then reach out to the Board and tell them that you support RCV.
