Ranked choice voting, which asks voters to rank multiple candidates in order of preference, has seen its profile steadily expand since 2016. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Citizens in Florida and around the world have seen their email inboxes flooded with requests by nonprofit organizations (including the Florida Phoenix) in recent days asking for financial contributions as part of “Giving Tuesday,” a global event that has taken place for the past 12 years on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
Nonprofits soliciting donations in the Sunshine State include Rank My Vote Florida, the advocacy group fighting to have Florida adopt a ranked-choice voting (RCV) system for elections. Ranked-choice voting allows voters to select multiple candidates in order of preference. If no one receives a majority of first-place votes, the candidates who receive the fewest votes are eliminated and their votes redistributed to people’s next choices.
Among the benefits to RCV that advocates cite is that it provides more choices to voters; that it encourages civility and discourages negativity because, while they might not receive a voter’s first vote, they can still receive their second vote, which could lead them to victory; and that voters will be enticed to learn about all the candidates in a particular race so they can rank as many of them them as possible.
The Florida Legislature banned RCV in 2022 in any statewide election and preempted any conflicting local ordinances.
And voters in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon rejected ballot measures that would have adopted ranked-choice voting last month. In Missouri, voters approved a ballot measure banning the approach statewide and locally, except for a grandfather clause for St. Louis municipal elections.
RCV did win in Washington, D.C., and also survived an attempted recall in Alaska, but barely, winning by just 737 votes out of more than 320,000 cast.
But that isn’t stopping the group from calling for donations on Tuesday to fund their efforts to get the Florida ban overturned.
“The ranked choice voting movement in Florida has demonstrated resilience and determination, even in the face of challenges like the prohibition on its use. Despite this setback, in 2024 we saw promising legislation introduced to overturn the prohibition, signaling growing interest in the reform” the email reads.
“Looking ahead, Rank My Vote Florida is preparing to launch targeted campaigns to engage Republican lawmakers by emphasizing the benefits of ranked choice voting for military and overseas ballots. We’re also building relationships with supervisors of elections to address implementation concerns and expanding our education initiatives to reach thousands of Floridians with the message that ranked choice voting strengthens democracy by empowering voters and ensuring fairer representation.”
‘We are not giving up’
The email prompted the Phoenix to ask John Severini, chair of Rank My Vote Florida, why he was still optimistic about the possibility that Florida, dominated by Republicans with a more than 1 million-voter registration advantage and a supermajority in the Legislature, would ever consider changing an election system that seems to be working quite well for them?
“My sincere belief is voters were not rejecting the concept of RCV, they just were not educated enough to vote for change they did not understand,” he replied via email. “Most of these campaigns were put together hastily, and did not have enough money or runway to do the proper education. Change is always hard with thousands of examples in history.”
In attempting to find a parallel fight, Severini cited same-sex marriage, which was banned in more than two dozen states (including Florida) before the U.S. Supreme Court made it legal in all 50 states in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision in 2015.
“Of course there will be setbacks, getting people to change the way we vote is not an easy task. Education is key, but the hard work has to be done and we are not giving up,” he said.
“That being said, there will NOT be a ballot initiative anytime soon in Florida, we’re in the education phase and it will take many more years and proper funding which has yet to come together for Florida. We are also working with lawmakers trying to find a few supportive ears. As the American public continues to be disappointed with our options and elected leaders, and as more cities continue to pass RCV, it is our belief that it will gain traction at the state level.”
Solace
Severini takes solace in a recent piece by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who in a post-mortem article about how the party can recover from last month’s election losses wrote that Democrats should “voluntarily adopt open primaries (and ranked choice voting) in all of their primaries, inviting independents to participate in their candidate selection, as this group represents a plurality of Americans.”
Along with Alaska, versions of ranked choice voting exist in Maine’s federal elections and about 50 cities or counties, according to the Associated Press.