Op-Ed: How to Fix Virginia’s Ranked Choice Voting Law

Virginia is considering expanding ranked-choice voting in local elections, and that is a constructive step. Ranked ballots let voters express fuller preferences, reduce spoiler dynamics, and encourage candidates to compete for broader support. But as written, House Bill 630 and Senate Bill 176 make a key mistake: they define ranked-choice voting for single-winner elections as instant runoff voting. The innovation is the ranked ballot itself. How those rankings are counted is a policy choice, and an important one. Locking Virginia into a single tabulation rule limits flexibility for election administrators and risks tying the reform to an approach voters may find difficult to understand.

Lawmakers should instead define ranked-choice voting by the ballot and authorize multiple transparent ways to count those rankings. One option to include is a head-to-head method known as Consensus Choice, where candidates are compared one-on-one using voters’ rankings and the candidate who wins the most matchups is elected. This approach strengthens fairness, representation, and transparency by treating each voter’s preference equally, measuring majority support directly, and producing results that are easy to explain and verify.

Local choice also reduces the risk that one controversial outcome poisons the whole reform. If the state hardwires one algorithm and there is a high-profile result that feels counterintuitive to voters, opponents will attack ranked ballots broadly. A menu of transparent, approved methods lowers that risk and keeps the focus on voter choice rather than on one counting rule.

A simple amendment to HB 630 and SB 176 would keep ranked ballots while ensuring Virginia’s approach ensures the long-term legitimacy of election reform without forcing localities into a one-size-fits-all rule.

Read the full op-ed by Carah Ong Whaley in the Virginia Pilot.