The only thing standing between Texas becoming the next state to ban ranked-choice voting (RCV) is House Speaker Dade Phelan.
In March, the Texas Senate successfully passed SB 921, which would require candidates to receive a “majority vote to be elected to a public or political party office or to receive a political party’s nomination” in elections. Preferential voting, which is more commonly known as ranked-choice voting, would also be prohibited. Surprisingly, the measure received bipartisan support, garnering “yea” votes from all 19 Senate Republicans and two Democrats (21-9).
Under RCV, which critics often refer to as “rigged-choice voting,” voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority 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.
Since its passage in the Senate, SB 921 has been stalled in the House Committee on Elections. When pressed for comment on whether Phelan intends to use his position as speaker to help pass SB 921 and whether he supports RCV, Phelan’s press secretary, Cassi Pollock, declined to comment on the matter, writing, “Our office does not have a comment.”
It’s worth mentioning that Phelan received a substantial amount of support from House Democrats during his bid for speaker in 2021. Despite Republicans holding a majority in the chamber, Phelan selected Democrats to chair 13 of the House’s 34 committees. During this year’s
