AXIOS —
What they’re saying: “Voters delivered a mandate for ranked-choice voting and sent a strong signal to the legislature that Washington voters want better elections,” said Kamau Chege, executive director of Washington Community Alliance, in a statement.
- He said ranked choice advocates will continue to push for changes in state law to allow more local jurisdictions to adopt the system.
What’s next: King County Elections officials have yet to certify the midterm results. Once they do, should the current results hold, they’ll get to work on the details of implementation, spokesperson Halei Watkins told Axios.
- That will include designing new ballots, conducting voter outreach and upgrading tabulation software to accommodate the ranking of multiple choices, she wrote in an email.
- County election officials also are tasked with deciding whether voters will be able to rank only five candidates in city primary elections, or if they’ll be allowed to rank more.
- Under the ballot measure, the new system will need to be up and running by 2027 — although advocates say it can be propped up much sooner.
Of note: The ranked choice system would apply only to August primary races for Seattle city attorney, city council and the mayor’s office.
- November elections are still set to feature two candidates going head to head.
