Submitted by: Councilmembers Schaible, Waszczak, Denes
Submitting Department: Legislative
Agenda Section: Discussion
Item Title:
title
Ranked Choice Voting Referendum for May 2025 City Election
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Suggested Action:
recommendation
For Discussion
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Summary Background:
In most American elections, the winning candidate is the one who?receives the most votes, even if most voters selected someone else. In a small but growing number of states and municipalities, another majoritarian system-ranked choice voting, or RCV-is used. RCV combines the general election and the runoff by letting voters select-or "rank"-the candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives 50% of the first-choice votes, the lowest-ranking candidate is eliminated,?and their second-place votes are reallocated among the remaining candidates. The?process repeats itself until a winner is selected.1
Advocates of RCV claim the system has many benefits over traditional American elections, including:
More positive campaigning because candidates have an incentive to be voters' second-choice option.
Reduced political polarization, because only candidates with broad support can win.
Eliminating the "spoiler effect," empowering voters to select their candidate of choice while eliminating the "lesser of two evils" dynamic. 2
Per the City Charter, a Council Directed Referendum must be approved by passage of a resolution with minimum of a 2/3 vote of Council members and must be passed at least 120 calendar days prior to the next municipal election May 13, 2025. As conceived, this would be a non-binding referendum to amend the City's Charter and Code to implement Ranked Choice Voting for municipal elections in Hyattsville ARTICLE IV - Legislation, Nominations and Elections ? C4-11. Vote count.
Next Steps:
For Council Discussion
Fiscal Impact:
TBD
City Administrator Comments:
Staff recommend that the scope of the November 4 discussion focus on determining if the Council wants to...
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