Letter to ISJ

Ranked Choice Vote or RCV, What is it and how can it be used?

Look at RCV as an inexpensive and immediate method of conducting a runoff election. RCV ensures

that the winner will have received the support of a majority of voters. If Idaho required a candidate to

receive a majority instead of a plurality, as some states do, RCV provides an instant runoff saving the

costs of another election.

If we look at the open primaries initiative as a two part proposal with the first part being an open

primary that everyone can participate in, both those who identify with a party and those who are

independent voters. This includes candidates as well as voters. The second part being the general

election with a method of requiring the final winner to have received the support of a majority of the

voters even when there are more than two candidates. If voters choose to (and they are not required)

indicate a second and maybe a third choice on their ballot they may. Only if one of the candidates does

not receive a majority of more than 50% of the votes does the instant runoff occur. The candidate

coming in last in the count is removed and the ballots that had the loser in first now are counted for the

second choice and the runoff counts the votes again. The process continues if the majority has not been

reached. There would never be more than two recounts.

Across the country many municipalities have chosen to use RCV for their elections. Utah having more

cities than other states using it. It works very well for these local governments where there are often

several candidates for these nonpartisan elections.

Chuck Mallory in a June 15 column in the Idaho State Journal compared Idaho to Alaska a state that

has adopted a proposal very much like the open primary initiative here in Idaho. He makes the

comparison that both states were open primary states changing to closed primary states. Alaska

initiated their open primary and RCV for the 2022 election. It is interesting to look at that election in

detail. Former Governor Sarah Pallin didn’t like the outcome, Senator Lisa Murkowski praised the

method describing it as easy to understand. She made the comparison to ordering at a restaurant where

you pick the item you like best but there was probably something that would have been your second

choice.

U S Senate race: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

Murkowski (R) 43.4%, 44.5%, 53.7%

*Tshibaka (R) 42.6%, 44.3%, 46.3%

Chesbro (D) 10.7%, 11.2%, 0%

**Kelly (R) 3.3%, 0%

*Tshibaka had been endorsed by

President Donald Trump.

**Kelly had withdrawn and given his support to Tshibaka, but his name was still on the

ballot.

At-large U S House race: Round 1, Round 2

Peltola (D) 40.2%, 51.5%

Palin (R) 31.3%, 48.5%

*Begich (R) 28.5%, 0%

*63% of Begich's 2nd choice votes went for Peltola in round 2.

A fourth candidate had withdrawn earlier after the primary election.

I refer you to: https://www.committeeforfairelections.org/majority-vote or more directly

https://www.committeeforfairelections.org/majority-vote/alaskas-2022-election.

The reason the Alaska vote took longer to announce the winners was that Alaska allows two weeks

after Election Day for ballots to arrive for counting. This because of Alaska’s rural nature.

It can probably be expected that more moderate candidates will be the winners in RCV. But,

independents and the voters will be the real winners. Political parties are not mentioned nor provided

for in the US Constitution. Yet primary elections serve the purpose of nominating political party

candidates for the parties, and at the public expense. Political parties would still be free to nominate

their candidates. Or to endorse candidates as Alaska’s Republican Party did.

As Jim Jones said in his Idaho State Journal column June 15, 2024. There are three political parties in

Idaho. The Democrats, the traditional Republican Party, and the extremest branch of the Republicans

controlled by the IFF (Idaho Freedom Foundation). The extremist branch is well organized and are

gaining control of the party structure in the Gem State. They have mastered the use and importance of

precinct committee members, realizing that if you get them elected they control the state convention

delegations. They don’t actually call themselves Republican but rather use such phrases as grassroots,

patriots, conservatives etc. Though they use the term Rino (Republican in name only) to label those of

us who are traditional Republicans. They have high jacked the Republican name. They are rightly

afraid of the open primaries initiative, knowing that if it passes they will lose power and maybe control.

If you read Bryan Parsons, you get a good feel for where they stand.

They have already started their campaign of disinformation. A column ran saying that RCV would

cause gun control and destroy 2nd Amendment rights. The column was full of Transitive Equality

comparisons saying that if we have RCV then gun control will occur which is a completely false

premise. The two are not related. That is like saying, an apple is a fruit and an orange is a fruit therefore

apples and oranges are equal or the same thing. Or, A = B, and B = C therefor A = C.

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