Utah Republicans took a step closer to securing their elections on Thursday after the state’s House of Representatives voted to remove the option for localities to use ranked-choice voting.
Under RCV, often dubbed “rigged-choice voting” by its critics, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter’s second-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.
In 2018, the GOP-controlled legislature approved legislation that created a pilot program allowing localities to use RCV for municipal elections. The program was set to expire on Jan. 1, 2026, according to Deseret News. The measure passed on Thursday, HB 290, would instead end the program on May 1, 2024.
HB 290 passed with a 43-26 vote, with 12 Republicans joining the House’s 14 Democrats in opposing the bill. Six Republicans did not vote on the legislation.
Speaking in defense of the bill, sponsor and GOP Rep. Katy Hall noted that despite lawmakers’ seemingly good intentions “to help with voter confidence … the cost of elections and deal with plurality issues,” the RCV pilot program “doesn’t appear to be having these intended consequences broadly.”
“I would argue that uniformity within the state, and within cities, is important for elections in order to maintain the trust of voters, run efficient election processes and guarantee equal access to the ballot throughout the state,” Hall
