Note from Our Communications & Outreach Team

Dear Friends and Followers,

Thank you for your support and interest in FairVote Virginia and its campaign to add ranked choice voting (RCV) throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. Good news on many fronts for us all. If you have been following, you know that bills have been introduced in the Virginia General Assembly’s House of Delegates and the Senate that would allow RCV in certain local elections. They are HB 1103 and SB 892.

A quick summary – both bills are identical and would allow for: “Elections of members of a county board of supervisors or a city council [that] may be conducted by ranked choice voting.”

Recall that RCV includes a mandate that the winning candidate achieve a majority of votes cast. The process does not require an additional run-off election should no candidate achieve majority on the first round; computers simply re-tabulate the votes as determined by each voter’s rankings. For more detailed explanations, see this tab on our website

You can drill down for more information on HB 1103 or SB 892 at the General Assembly Legislative Tracker website.

If you are so inclined, now is the time to contact your local legislator to voice your support. If you don’t know how to do that, we offer several websites including the Official Commonwealth of Virginia site and the Official General Assembly site. Call the offices of your delegate and senator or email but do it quickly. The bills are currently awaiting a subcommittee vote within Privileges and Elections. HB1103 will be heard on Monday (January 27th) and the SB892 will be heard on Tuesday (January 28th)! Also, HB 506, a bill proposing the use of RCV in Arlington County will be heard in Counties, Cities, and Towns Committee on Friday (January 31st).

For another way to help, we recommend that you send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. If you’re knowledgeable on the topic, use your own thoughts and ideas, in 300 words or less. If you need a bit of help, we have prepared several versions for your use. This usually is an easy process. Find your local newspaper’s website. Look for “Contact Us” or “Opinions” or search for “Letters to the Editor” on the site, and follow directions for submissions.

Thank you very much for your continued interest in this key voting provision that we believe will add greatly to civil discourse and a more nuanced or less polarized elections, where implemented, throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Sincerely,

The FairVote Virginia

Communications Team