Proposition 1 is bad for Idaho

Ranked choice voting (on the ballot as Proposition 1 this fall) harms American elections.

With ranked choice voting, not all votes count. Some have written letters claiming otherwise, but look at the facts:

• California, 2010: San Francisco Board of Supervisors General Election. After 20 Rounds of tabulations, 53% of ballots were exhausted and didn’t contribute to the final results.

• Maine, 2018: During an RCV election for its 2nd Congressional District, 126,139 votes were cast. Only 117,250 votes counted toward the final round. ~9,000 were tossed.

• Alaska, 2022: During a special election for U.S. Congress, 15,000 votes were tossed, either due to ballot errors or ballot exhaustion.

• A study of San Francisco elections from 1995 to 2011 revealed a strong relationship between a decline in voter turnout and the adoption of RCV. Why? Voters must be familiar with more candidates, fill out complex forms, and rank all candidates or fear their vote won’t count. Most importantly, they don’t trust election results.

• RCV also results in delays. RCV ballots must be transported to a centralized location for counting and go through multiple rounds of tabulations. It can take days to weeks to call an election, and sometimes mistakes are made:

• California, 2022: the wrong winner was announced for an Alameda County School Board race.

Vote no to Proposition 1 to maintain election integrity in Idaho.

VICTORIA QUINN

Sandpoint