While we’re all focused on elections, have you heard of ranked-choice voting? It is perhaps the least democratic way to run an election ever invented (outside of, maybe, the way Saddam Hussein used to run elections). Currently, just a handful of states use RCV at the state or local level. But if the Left has its way, it could be coming to state near you, including Texas.

Here’s how it works. If there are, say, six candidates for office, the voter ranks their choices one through six. On the first count, if a candidate gets a majority, they win. If no one gets a majority, the candidate with the least number of votes gets dropped and they recount. If the candidate that was eliminated happens to be the one you ranked first, then the person you ranked second will count as your vote. This process continues, eliminating candidates in each round, until someone gets a majority of votes counted.

On principle, the problems should be obvious. Voters deserve to have their vote count for the person they wish to see hold the office. They shouldn’t be compelled to vote for someone they like less just because their preferred candidate didn’t win. Further, some people may choose not to rank all the candidates (which especially happens when there are a lot of them). If the ones the voter chooses to rank are all eliminated before a winner is declared, then the system effectively disqualifies them from voting in the election.

In practice, it creates some wacky outcomes. Since a candidate just needs a majority of votes counted, not a majority of people who voted, candidates often win despite having less than a majority of the total ballots cast. One case showed a candidate won with less than 4400 votes while more than 9600 ballots were “exhausted,” or dropped from the count.

Supporters of ranked-choice voting are in the process of rebranding it “instant runoff voting” so they can claim it saves time and money for states. The problem in Texas is that we have very specific rules about runoffs, so the new name may make it even less palatable.

The good news is several Texas legislators have already signaled their intention to ban RCV in the next legislative session.  But it’s another signal that people who are the most likely to claim that democracy is under attack are, in fact, the ones attacking it.

Brian Phillips

Chief Communications Officer

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Derek is joined by guest host Andrew Brown to discuss their adventures at the recent State Policy Network Annual Meeting, including learning what states are doing in regard to child welfare.

Josh Findlay is joined by Shawn Fleetwood from The Federalist to discuss election integrity.

Parents rightfully demand transparency from their school districts, and too often schools hide how much they're spending and what they're spending taxpayer dollars on. Join Mandy Drogin as she sits down with Vance Ginn, dad of 3, founder of Ginn Economic Consulting, and formerly an economist in the Trump administration, as they break down school finance and dive into how much our schools are spending and what they're spending it on.

Join the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Citizens Defending Freedom, the U.S. Pastor Council, and the Remnant Alliance, along with our distinguished speakers from local and national leadership organizations, to learn how you can empower parents and communities to serve families and Christ at the Pastors for Parent Empowerment Summit.

Communications Manager

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