02/01/2023
HB 2004A VOTE:NO – PASSED, Filed with Secretary of State, effective 12-5-2024
Status (overview) of bill:https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/HB2004
Committee assigned to bill: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Committees/SRULES/Overview
Relating to ranked choice voting; and providing that this Act shall be referred to the people for their approval or rejection.
HB 2004 establishes ranked choice voting as voting method for selecting winner of nomination for and election to offices of President of United States, United States Senator, Representative in Congress, Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer and Attorney General. Moves election for Commissioner of Bureau of Labor and Industries to general election, where election is conducted using ranked choice voting.
Both bills authorizes cities, counties, metropolitan service districts and local government and local service districts to elect to use ranked choice voting to nominate or elect candidates for relevant offices. SB 506 requires Secretary of State to create and staff division to assist counties that adopt ranked-choice voting in purchasing compatible computers, voting machines and vote tally systems, which would be expensive for counties. And the state’s election computer system is hackable admitted by the AG, so it opens up another level of fraud.
Rank-choice voting is an instant runoff system that neutralizes the people’s will. The ballots continue to be counted until one candidate has the majority of votes. Too many choices distorts the method and may not reflect voters’ choice. There is total reliance on computer programming, without a way to audit the results.
Some say it incentivizes candidates to appeal to a broader base of voters, but it has been shown to reduce voting by demanding voters think beyond their first choice. That causes a strategy in voting that is complicated and confusing. It eliminates the primary when weak candidates are eliminated, so vetting candidates fully is the challenge for an informed electorate.
Comments
JERENE CAUDLE says:
March 14, 2023 at 7:58 am
I oppose this Bill!
RICHARD VANDER VELDEN says:
March 14, 2023 at 9:22 pm
We are not a communist country, yet. We are a Republic and have an Electoral College that votes to prevent the socialist from taking over. This bill is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at removing the Electoral Vote.
AL SMITH says:
March 14, 2023 at 9:32 pm
Another overreach of state government without the vote of the people. This does nothing to improve Oregon
REBECCA ROTH says:
March 18, 2023 at 12:09 am
Tyranny of the counters….it’s not who votes, but who counts the votes.
Rank choice…..the dank dark secret in the back room, days after the “election.”
We can still all pretend that voting counts….Oregon=tyranny.
TERRY NOONKESTER says:
March 28, 2023 at 6:42 am
Ranked Choice Voting a Bad Idea
Oregon has 3 Ranked Choice Bills in the legislature; SB 506 currently in the Senate Committee on Rules, and HB 2004, and HB 3107 both in the House Committee on Rules, they are not available for testimony yet, but it is not too early to get an understanding of what Ranked Choice Voting is. There are several concerns about the affect Ranked Choice Voting would have on the election system. Examples of these can be found in states that have already passed this type of legislation.
The three bills cover very different parts of the election process and their summaries seem to be accurate.
SB 506 “Permits counties to adopt ranked-choice voting to conduct county elections…
Requires Secretary of State to create and staff division to assist counties that adopt ranked-
choice voting in purchasing compatible computers, voting machines and vote tally systems.
Declares emergency, effective July 1, 2023.”
HB 2004, “Establishes ranked choice voting as voting method for selecting winner of nomination for and election to offices of President of United States, United States Senator, Representative in Congress, Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer and Attorney General. Authorizes cities, counties, metropolitan service districts and local government and local service districts to elect to use ranked choice voting to nominate or elect candidates for relevant offices. Moves election for Commissioner of Bureau of Labor and Industries to general election, where election is conducted using ranked choice voting.”
HB 3107 “Establishes ranked choice voting as voting method for selecting winner of nomination for and election to nonpartisan state offices and county and city offices except where home rule charter applies. Establishes ranked choice voting as voting method for selecting winner of nomination by major political parties for federal and state partisan offices.
According to the Heritage foundation; If a voter only ranks two of five candidates and those two are eliminated in the first and second rounds of tabulation, their choices will not be considered in the remaining rounds of tabulation. This ballot exhaustion leads to candidates being elected who were not the first choice of a majority of voters, but only a majority of “all valid votes in the final round of tallying.” Thus, “it is possible that the winning candidate will fall short of an actual majority,” eliminating the “influence [of many voters] over the final outcome.” For the full article, go to; https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/report/ranked-choice-voting-bad-choice.
Seth Keshel lists the following problems with Ranked Choice Votes:
1) Minor parties candidates will not have a chance to succeed, their votes will be given to the bigger party candidates.
2) You can’t vote against a candidate. You have to rank every candidate running. If you only rank one candidate your ballot will be thrown out in succeeding rounds of voting.
3) The voting is still strategic. It is not a “way to voice yourself more thoroughly” as it is advertised to be.
4) Extreme candidates manage to get voted in.
5) Moderate candidates are squeezed out. Redirection and redistribution of votes creates distrust.
6) Ballot exhaustion. If you don’t rank all candidates, your vote is thrown out completely in future rounds so essentially your vote never counted. The number of ballots counted in the last round is less than the number of ballots counted in the first round.
7) Low participation. Voter turnout has been measured in places with RCV and it constantly gets lower. People are not enthused by RCV.
8) It is confusing to voters. Confusion leads to lower turnout.
9) It opens up the door for more fraud. It is difficult to track ballots and takes weeks to count them. This system requires more handling of ballots, more transportation of ballots, more chain of custody issues, and more adjudication issues.
10) Delays result from above issues. Ballots are practically inauditable because of the ballot exhaustion. Instead of providing more transparency in elections, RCV makes it even muddier.
See Seth Keshel’s video at https://rumble.com/v2d5tdk-seth-keshel-why-ranked-choice-voting-is-bad-honolulu-hi-3112023.html
What’s the buzz?