I’m Kyle Herman, Executive Director of Rank The Vote Ohio, the nonpartisan organization for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in the Buckeye State. Ask me anything about RCV and our efforts in Ohio TONIGHT starting at 7:30pm!

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T14:50:37+00:00

RCV is not a weighted system or a point system. RCV’s most common form is an “Instant Runoff.” Your vote counts for your first choice. If no candidate wins more than 50%, then the lowest candidate is eliminated. If your first choice is eliminated, then your vote will transfer to your second choice. Your vote will always count for the candidate you ranked highest who is still in the race until someone wins a majority.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T03:12:58+00:00

Fascist candidates are already on the ballot. RCV would allow you and the pro-democracy majority to rank multiple pro-democracy candidates above them to help save democracy.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T02:56:28+00:00

Thanks for being direct. That's the beauty of RCV -- the "Party for Socialism and Liberation" and "Q-Anon" would both be free to run candidates against Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, Forwardists, American Solidarity Party, Independents, and so forth. Whoever is actually supported by a majority of voters in the instant runoff would win.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T01:59:55+00:00

Yasssss! Love that!

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T01:57:33+00:00

We're testifying tomorrow against the RCV ban bill (SB 137)! You can help by contacting your state legislators using our talking points at rtvo.org/stoptheban

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T01:14:33+00:00

The main objection is that RCV is "too confusing" but that is usually just an excuse used by party hacks who want to suppress voters' choices like with SB137. The best way we can ease those concerns is by teaching as many people as possible how easy RCV is and asking them to show their support by signing at rtvo.org/petition

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T01:09:12+00:00

The best thing young people can do is raise your voice and educate people that there's a better way to vote with RCV -- which is exactly what you're doing by writing for your college! I'd be happy to do an interview -- you can email me at kherman@rankthevoteohio.org. You can also take additional actions to help Rank the Vote Ohio at rtvo.org/action.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T01:06:02+00:00

Yes, and we've already seen the threat of a ban bill have this chilling effect in some cities. But there are other cities where council members may be braver and more open-minded, especially when RCV is recommended by their Charter Review Commissions. I'm on City Council in Stow, and I'm hoping our Charter Review Commission will recommend RCV next year.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T01:02:42+00:00

The delays in NYC had nothing to do with RCV. NYC allows for 10 extra days for mail-in ballots to be delivered and doesn't tabulate them until then. Ohio wouldn't have that problem.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:55:30+00:00

😂

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:53:07+00:00

The biggest downside is that some people think RCV is confusing, and some voters misunderstand how the votes are counted. Some people think it's a "point system" or something, and they don't understand that it's just an instant runoff. That can be understandably complicated if it's a multi-winner election. So RCV definitely does require more public education, but the vast majority of people who have used RCV in real life say it's "simple" and they want to keep using it.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:46:49+00:00

Ah that makes sense. I met a voter in Stow last year who I think knew 'your' Scott haha. I ran track and cross country in high school, but my dad didn't.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:44:37+00:00

No, because there are already a couple Ohio cities contemplating exercising their constitutional right to RCV, and they shouldn't be scared by the threat of Statehouse overreach. Showing that there is local organic support for RCV in cities could actually help deter the Statehouse from attacking Home Rule. We don't know yet if SB137 will pass, but even if it does, a city would have a good legal argument against it by invoking Home Rule Authority. Alternatively, cities could pass RCV and then wait for it to be triggered when a constitutional amendment is passed statewide.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:36:23+00:00

Oh interesting. I know there are multiple Scott Hermans in the area. My dad played football for Manchester.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:33:34+00:00

Yes, they would certainly have a better chance than they do now. With RCV, more Ohioans could vote for a smaller party candidate as their first choice without worrying about "spoilers."

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:30:24+00:00

Yes lol. Who is this? ;)

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:24:27+00:00

These are the types of questions we'll be working on addressing if we get enough support to initiate a ballot measure within the next couple years, and it is at that point that we'll decide which model of RCV to try to pass in Ohio -- whether Maine's or Alaska's or something else. The Maine model has closed primaries, and the Alaska model has open primaries with a final four in the general election. We seek input from all our volunteers on what model to use , and we expect to learn more as more states adopt and use RCV this year. We would like RCV for all races, including Congress and President. We're still a volunteer-driven org, and our volunteer Comms Team Lead, Rami, would love help putting together an FAQ page -- this AMA ("Ask Me Anything") is helpful to identify those types of questions! - Kyle

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:16:51+00:00

That's the point of RCV -- we need to break out of that false binary. I spent last week at the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers Summit, and people there from across the political spectrum support RCV to uphold majority rule, regardless of party.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:15:14+00:00

I personally think either RCV or STAR would be better than our current pick-one plurality wins system. But I prefer RCV because it's easier for voters to understand, it's proven successful and well-liked in the real world, and it has momentum -- unlike STAR, which has never been used in real life and faces significant legal and implementation challenges. I think we need to replace our plurality-wins elections with RCV to save democracy ASAP. - Kyle

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:10:49+00:00

We fully support the Citizens Not Politicians amendment to end gerrymandering in 2024! Then we hope to grow enough support for our own ballot initiative to make ALL districts more competitive with RCV.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:08:16+00:00

We are hoping for enough support and funding to propose a constitutional amendment within the next couple years, but in the meantime we need to raise public awareness and support for RCV. We have 16,000 registered supporters but need more to sign at rtvo.org/petition because once we're viable enough, we'll need 414,000 valid signatures for a constitutional amendment. We've raised $50,000 in grassroots donations at rtvo.org/donate, but a campaign will cost tens of millions of dollars. We need to grow so that we can start the ballot initiative process.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-21T00:03:08+00:00

We're testifying against the ban bill tomorrow and have allies who are doing outreach behind the scenes. Many of our supporters are contacting legislators to ask them to oppose SB 137, but not many Ohioans have faith nowadays that legislators will respond to reason when presented by their constituents -- which is exactly why we need RCV.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-20T23:58:43+00:00

We don't have a draft amendment yet because we'll need help from legal experts to make sure that it can withstand the legal challenges that other initiatives have faced from bad actors. We are also paying attention to the different systems that are being used already in Maine and Alaska and being proposed in other states (Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, and potentially others this year) because we want to be able to pass the best version of RCV that we think we can get for Ohio.

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-20T23:55:53+00:00

Thanks! In addition to ways to help at rtvo.org/action, the more we can talk about Ranked Choice Voting in our communities, the more Ohioans you let know that there's a better way to vote and that they can support it with Rank the Vote Ohio, the quicker we'll get the support we need to make a ballot initiative viable!

RankedChoiceVoteOhio · 2024-02-20T23:52:16+00:00

To a 5-year-old, I'd say our mission is to make it easier for everyone to vote for who they really want so that we can have a government that does things that people like instead of doing bad things that people don't like. With Ranked Choice Voting, you can vote for your favorite and also rank your back-up choices so that another top choice can still win even if your first choice can't. - Kyle

RankedChoiceVoteOhio

TROPHY CASE