MCRP Opposes Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV)

2024 General Election Measure HB2004

Argument in Opposition

by Joseph Whitcomb, Chairman, Multnomah County Republicans

Multnomah County Republicans urge a NO vote on Measure HB2004, which establishes Ranked-choice Voting (RCV) for the state of Oregon. We oppose Ranked-choice Voting because it is confusing, centralizes control, can delay results, and will reduce turnout among less-engaged voters.

Confusing

Measure HB2004 only requires some elections to be ranked. This will cause confusion with voters as they look to review their ballot and see some elections will be ranked while others will not. Federal and statewide elections will be ranked. Meanwhile the legislators that referred Measure 000 to the voters will not have to run in ranked choice elections.

Centralized Control

With RCV, the Secretary of State may tally ballots, NOT county clerks. This means we lose the local control of our elections that we currently enjoy.

Ballots Excluded

Measure HB2004 and RCV prescribes that “exhausted ballots” do not count toward the final election result. An exhausted ballot occurs when a voter overvotes, undervotes, or only ranks candidates that are no longer in contention on their ballot. This means a majority of voters may not pick the winning candidate.

Slow

In the 2021 New York City Mayor’s race held with ranked choice voting, it took 15 days to announce the winner after numerous problems and there is potential for the count to take longer with additional problems.

Low Turnout

According to research from the Cato Institute, ranked choice voting may reduce overall turnout with particularly strong impacts on low-propensity voters.

Sidelining Minority Voters

In a study for the Center for Election Confidence, Dr. McCarty found that RCV disproportionately decreases the representation and electoral influence of minority voters because such voters disproportionately “exhaust” their ballots thereby removing them from decisive vote tabulations.

Therefore, the Multnomah County Republicans urge you to Please vote NO on Measure HB2004 establishing Ranked-choice Voting.

Multnomah County Republican Party

‘Fighting For Your Future!’