The Center for Election Confidence joins broad coaltion of election integrity advocates to support Georgia bill bannning Ranked-Choice Voting
(Arlington, Va.) The Center for Election Confidence, along with 15 other election integrity advocacy groups, sent a letter to Chairman Max Burns of the Georgia Senate Committee on Ethics in support of SB 355, a bill that would ban ranked-choice voting in Georgia.
Since the 2020 election, Georgia has been at the forefront of strong, vital election integrity reforms. From banning Zuckerbucks to requiring voter ID, Georgia’s efforts have been the gold standard for states looking to protect voters from fraud and restore trust in the democratic process.
Banning ranked-choice voting is the next step in maintaining that high standard.
Whether it is labeled “instant runoff” or another alternative voting system, everywhere that ranked-choice voting has been tried, it’s been an unmitigated and un-American disaster with delayed election results, ballots thrown in the trash, voters’ voices silenced, losers winning, and winners losing. Here’s a sample:
- Maine: In 2018, Rep. Bruce Poliquin had 46 percent of the vote on the initial ballot, ahead of his challenger’s 45 percent. Because no one received above 50 percent, the secretary of state tossed more than 8,200 ballots and the Democrat, Jared Golden, won the congressional seat with an artificial majority.
- Alaska: In the 2022 special election, 60 percent of Alaskans wanted a Republican. 11,000 ballots were trashed because voters only voted for the other Republican. The Democrat won by slightly more than 5,000 votes.
- Alameda County, California: Nearly two months after a school board election, a third party ran a recount of the vote and found that the third-place candidate was the correct winner. The Board of Supervisors directed a recount of all elections using ranked-choice voting.
- New York City: In the 2021 Democratic mayoral primary, it took 15 days to declare a winner and more than 140,000 ballots were thrown in the trash.