Initiative 83
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Ranked Choice Voting and Open the Primary Elections to Independent Voters Act of 2024 | ||
Yes 70–80% 60–70%
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Initiative 83 was a voter-approved ballot initiative in Washington, D.C., that would permit ranked-choice voting and open the primary elections to independent voters. If passed, more than 80,000 voters[1] registered as “unaffiliated” with a political party will be able to participate in primaries, which are closed to those voters.[2] Beginning in 2026, elections for all public offices, except political party offices, would be held using ranked choice voting.
History
[edit]The initiative was officially proposed as the Make All Votes Count Act of 2024 by Lisa D.T. Rice and Philip Pannell, longtime activists and leaders of the Make All Votes Count D.C. campaign in May 2023.[3] On July 21, 2023, the ballot initiative was deemed "proper subject matter" by the District of Columbia Board of Elections.[2] On August 23, the DC Board of Elections held its public hearing on the formulation of the short title, summary statement, legislative text. At this hearing, the ballot initiative's short title was changed to Ranked Choice Voting and Open the Primary Elections to Independent Voters Act of 2024.[4] On September 1, 2023, the final version of the short title, summary statement, and legislative text was published in the DC register,[5] which triggered a 10-day challenge period, where a DC voter could challenge the initiative. No challenge was timely filed.[6] On September 13, 2023, the DC Board of Elections accepted a request for an abeyance to delay the adoption of the Initiative 83 petition until January 2024.[6] On January 10, 2024, the proposer adopted the official Initiative 83 petition for ballot access.[7]
Lawsuits
[edit]On August 1, 2023, the DC Democratic Party and its chairman Charles E. Wilson sued D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, the DC Board of Elections, and the Government of the District of Columbia believing they erred when Initiative 83 was determined to be “proper subject matter,” and they asked the court to permanently block the initiative from being implemented.[8] The lawsuit caused numerous complaints within the party.[9] The lawsuit was ultimately withdrawn on November 4, 2023.[10]
On August 31, 2023, a similar lawsuit was filed by the DC Democratic Party, its chairman Charles E. Wilson, and former independent, At-Large candidate for D.C Council, Keith Silver,[11] which sought to challenge the initiative upon similar grounds as the previous lawsuit.[12] However, the challenge was filed one day too early,[13] on August 31, 2023, and was ultimately dismissed by the judge overseeing the failed lawsuit.[14]
Creation
[edit]On July 14, 2021, D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson introduced the Voter Ownership, Integrity, Choice, and Equity (VOICE) Amendment Act of 2021,[15] which would have implemented ranked-choice voting in Washington, DC. Co-introduced with a majority of D.C. Councilmembers, the bill had a hearing on November 18, 2021, where a stream of members of the D.C. Democratic State Committee testified against it.[16] The bill ultimately did not receive a vote and died in committee.[17]
Only 10 states have closed primary elections like the District of Columbia.[18] Because 76% of the voters are registered Democrat,[1] the winner of the November general election in most contests is decided in the Democratic primary in June. Independent voters are functionally disenfranchised by not being allowed to participate in the primary that chooses the Democratic Party's mayoral candidate and other important races.[17] The campaign believes this amounts to voter suppression.[2] Initiative 83 will allow these voters to participate in the primary election without being required to join a political party. The initiative does not permit current members of political parties to vote in a different party's primary election.[19]
The District of Columbia Home Rule Act requires elections to be conducted on a partisan basis and prohibits political parties from nominating more than one candidate to the general election. Therefore, the proposers of Initiative 83 were unable to propose a top-four primary or a final-five voting form of ranked-choice voting.[19]
Petition gathering
[edit]The campaign had until July 8, 2024 to collect the names, addresses, and signatures of 5% of the registered voters in Washington, DC, including 5% of the voters in 5 of the 8 wards.[7] Based on the April 30, 2024, voter registration statistics,[20] the campaign needed the signatures from 22,538 DC voters to achieve ballot access for the 2024 general election ballot. The campaign issued a press release on March 22, 2024 stating they had collected 10,000 signatures from DC voters and were 1/3 from their goal of 30,000 signatures.[21] On July 1, the campaign submitted 40,000 signatures to the D.C. Board of Elections.[22] The petition survived a challenge period, which was from July 4 to July 13.
| Ward | Signatures of Registered Voters Required | Total Signatures Used to be Utilized for Random Sampling | Surplus Signatures | Number of Valid Signatures in Sample of 100 | Decision with 95% Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,739 | 4,274 | 1,535 | 99 | Accept |
| 2 | 2,464 | 2,774 | 310 | 97 | Accept |
| 3 | 2,673 | 3,303 | 630 | 99 | Accept |
| 4 | 2,878 | 4,076 | 1,198 | 94 | Accept |
| 5 | 3,243 | 3,607 | 364 | 93 | No Decision |
| 6 | 3,092 | 3,995 | 903 | 100 | Accept |
| 7 | 2,815 | 3,250 | 435 | 98 | Accept |
| 8 | 2,635 | 2,494 | -141 | 99 | Reject |
| Citywide | 22,538 | 27,773 | 5,235 | Accept |
In total, the DCBOE found 27,773 signatures to be valid,[23] the campaign passed the 5% validity threshold in 6 of the 8 wards, and the initiative was placed on the November general election ballot.[24]
Political arguments
[edit]For
[edit]- In crowded elections with numerous candidates running for the same office, ranked choice voting ensures the winning candidate is elected with over 50% of the vote [25]
- Independents should be able to participate in all taxpayer-funded elections [26]
- In order to secure a voter's second choice, candidates are less likely to engage in negative campaigning[27]
Against
[edit]- The District of Columbia should keep its primaries closed and only allow members of political parties to participate [28]
- Ranked choice voting and opening the primary elections to independent voters should not have been combined into one ballot initiative[28]
- Mayor Muriel Bowser said ranked choice voting is "a very complicated election system" [26]
Results
[edit]| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 Yes
|
212,332 | 72.89 |
| No | 78,961 | 27.11 |
| Valid votes | 291,293 | 89.33 |
| Overvotes and undervotes | 34,788 | 10.67 |
| Total votes | 326,081 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 326,129 | 70.80 |
| Source: District of Columbia Board of Elections[29] | ||
References
[edit]- ^ a b DC Board of Elections (31 October 2024). "Monthly report for the period ending October 31, 2024" (PDF). official statistics. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ a b c Flynn, Megan (July 21, 2023). "D.C. ranked-choice voting ballot initiative clears first hurdle". Washington Post. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
- ^ Austermuhle, Martin (May 18, 2023). "New Ballot Initiative Proposes Bringing Ranked-Choice Voting And Open Primaries To D.C." DCist. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
- ^ Neal R. Gross and Co., Inc (23 August 2023). "DC Board of Elections, Special Board Meeting 8-23-2023, Transcript". transcript. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ Office of Documents and Administrative Issuances (1 September 2023). "Vol. 70 - No. 35 - District of Columbia Register". government publication. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ a b Neal R. Gross and Co., Inc (13 September 2023). "DC Board of Elections, Regular Board Meeting 9-13-2023, Transcript". transcript. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ a b Neal R. Gross and Co., Inc (10 January 2024). "DC Board of Elections, Regular Board Meeting 01-10-2024, Transcript". transcript. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ Brice-Saddler, Michael (August 8, 2023). "D.C. Democrats sue to block ranked-choice voting ballot measure". Washington Post. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ Koma, Alex (September 25, 2023). "D.C. Democrats' Legal Challenge to Initiative 83 Exposes Long-Simmering Frustrations with Party Leadership". Washington City Paper. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ D.C. Democratic Party et al. v. Muriel Bowser et al., 2023-CAB-004732 (DC Superior Court 1 August 2023)
- ^ Nirappil, Fenit (October 16, 2020). "In a crowded D.C. Council field, stark choices about the direction of a liberal city". Washington Post. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ Charles E. Wilson et al. v. Muriel E. Bowser et al., 2023-CAB-005414 (DC Superior Court 31 August 2023)
- ^ Koma, Alex (November 9, 2023). "Filing Mistakes Could Doom the D.C. Democrats' Legal Challenge to Initiative 83". Washington City Paper. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ Silverman, Ellie (March 29, 2023). "Judge dismisses lawsuit against D.C. ranked-choice voting ballot measure". Washington Post. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ B24-0372 - Voter Ownership, Integrity, Choice, and Equity (VOICE) Amendment Act of 2021. July 14, 2021. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
- ^ Zauzmer Weil, Julie (November 18, 2021). "D.C. debates whether to switch to a ranked-choice voting system". Washington Post. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ a b Editorial Board (May 26, 2023). "How to make D.C. government more representative". Washington Post. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ "State Primary Election Types". Retrieved 2024-04-03.
- ^ a b "Frequently Asked Questions". Retrieved 2024-04-02.
- ^ DC Board of Elections (30 April 2024). "Monthly report for the period ending April 30, 2024" (PDF). official statistics. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ Make All Votes Count DC (22 March 2023). "The Yes on 83 Campaign Has Collected Over 10,000 Signatures from DC Voters". Make All Votes Count DC. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ admin (2024-07-01). "PRESS RELEASE: The YES on 83 Campaign Submits Over 40,000 Signatures to D.C. Board of Elections Today". Make All Votes Count DC. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
- ^ a b DC Board of Elections (2 August 2024). "Petition Verification Report on Initiative Measure No. 83" (PDF). petition verification report. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ Flynn, Megan (August 2, 2024). "Initiative to bring ranked-choice voting to D.C. cleared for November ballot". Washington Post. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
- ^ Arnold, Jess (2024-10-25). "DC's Initiative 83 explained". WUSA9. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
- ^ a b Iannelli, Nick (2024-10-29). "Why Mayor Bowser is 'totally against' a ballot initiative to bring ranked choice voting to DC". WTOP. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Tom (2024-10-14). "DC's Initiative 83 explained". WTTG. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
- ^ a b Rosenstein, Peter (2024-10-31). "Vote NO on Initiative 83 in D.C." Washington Blade. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
- ^ "General Election 2024 - Certified Results". District of Columbia Board of Elections. 2024-12-02. Retrieved 2024-12-02.