WASHINGTON — Virginia voters are casting early ballots for the primary election on June 20, but those ballots look a little different in Arlington County, Virginia.
This is the county's first election using ranked choice voting. How unusual is that?
QUESTION
Is Arlington County the first jurisdiction in the DMV to implement ranked choice voting?
SOURCES
ANSWER
No, Arlington County is not the only local municipality to adopt ranked choice voting
WHAT WE FOUND
According to FairVote, Arlington is the first location in Virginia to switch to ranked choice voting. But it is not the first place in the DMV.
Ranked choice voting is also known as instant runoff voting. Voters rank several candidates on the ballot from first to last. If one candidate receives more than 50% of the first-place votes, that candidates wins. If no candidate receives 50%, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. The ballots on which they were named are then distributed to the candidates listed in second place. If no candidate has a majority after that step, the process repeats until one candidate wins.
A spokesperson for FairVote added that Arlington's current election is slightly different than most because voters are electing two candidates instead of one. Instead of reaching 50%, winning candidates will only need more than 33.3% of the vote to be elected.
Takoma Park, Maryland has held its elections for mayor and city council this way since 2007, after approval from both voters and the city council. Virginia Republicans also have some experience with ranked choice voting, because the state GOP has used it to nominate candidates the last two years.
The Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center lists more than 60 jurisdictions that use ranked choice voting, including San Francisco, Minneapolis, New York City, Alaska, and Maine. Several other cities, counties, and states are preparing to implement it, as well.
To view sample ballots for the current election in Arlington County, click here.