| Peter S Adler; PhD | Aloha State Daily |
At the moment, ranked choice voting appears to have been used or has been approved for upcoming public elections in 49 U.S. jurisdictions, including 36 cities, three counties, and Maine and Alaska statewide. Several jurisdictions employ ranked choice voting ballots for military and overseas voters. Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes already requires ranked choice voting for federal elections held outside regularly scheduled primary or general election dates, and for special elections to fill vacant county council seats.
“An important conceptual choice”
Interestingly, ranked choice voting also appears outside government elections: About 100 American colleges and universities use it in some student-government elections. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences uses ranked ballots to determine most Oscar nominees; it also uses ranked-choice tabulation to select the Best Picture winner. Ranked, point-based ballots also select the Heisman Trophy winner as well as that of Major League Baseball’s Cy Young Award.
Question 5 will offer an important conceptual choice. If adopted, the proposal directs the city clerk to prepare rules and implement a public education program which clearly addresses important operational nuances, such as ballot design, recounts, certification procedures, and treatment of skipped rankings, ties, and exhausted ballots. The public should be able to see and comment on those rules before implementation, as Honolulu’s charter provides that public-facing administrative rules generally require public notice, a public hearing, and mayoral approval.