The Ohio Senate passed a bipartisan bill Wednesday that could ban ranked choice voting in the state. Senate Bill 63 would allow cities and counties to still utilize the election model, but the state would penalize them by banning them from receiving Local Government Fund money. The bill is now headed to the House.
So what is ranked choice voting?
Ranked choice voting is an election model that allows voters to rank candidates by preference on their ballots. The most common form of ranked choice voting is known as instant runoff voting.
In that model, if a candidate wins a majority of first preference votes, they are declared the winner, but if no candidate achieves that, the candidate with the least first preference votes is eliminated. Then, the ballots that had ranked the eliminated candidate as their first preference are recounted with the next highest ranking candidate on those ballot now counted as their new first preference.
There's a new tally of the ballots to see if a candidate now has a majority of first preference votes. The process repeats until a candidate does.
The process varies by jurisdiction, with some eliminating more than one candidate each round.
A short history of ranked choice voting
Currently, two states use ranked choice voting statewide, Alaska and Maine. Some states like Illinois, New York and Virginia don't use ranked choice voting in statewide elections but have municipalities that do in their local elections.
Several states, including Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia, have passed laws prohibiting the use of ranked choice voting in any election.
Ohio currently has no laws on the books addressing ranked choice voting.
Several Ohio cities previously used ranked choice voting for city council elections in the 20th century, including Ashtabula, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Hamilton and Toledo. Hamilton was the last city to phase it out, last using the model in 1960.
Several Ohio cities are considering adopting ranked choice voting, including Cleveland Heights. Ranked choice voting was recommended by the city's Charter Review Commission in 2024, and city council is considering placing a charter amendment on the November ballot, according to Rank the Vote Ohio, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for ranked choice voting. Groups in Cincinnati, Hudson, Kent, Lakewood and Stow are also exploring ballot initiatives to adopt the system, according to the group.
For and against
Supporters of ranked choice voting say it gives voters more options outside of the two party system, allowing voters to support third party and lesser known candidates. They contend it can also lead to more diverse candidates and saves taxpayers money.
Opponents, however, argue that the system benefits voters with more time and information, decreases voter confidence in elections and that the winners may not represent the will of the voters. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has said the system is confusing and cumbersome to election officials and voters.
