Next year, the voters of Clark County, Washington, will be asked if they wish to use ranked choice voting for elections for county office. The County Charter Review Committee put the measure on the 2022 ballot on December 7. Thanks to Fairvote for this news.
On December 9, the U.S. House passed HR 5314, the “Protecting our Democracy Act” by a vote of 220-208. Here is a summary of the original bill. Before the bill passed, it was amended to include a provision granting financial assistance to states and local governments to help pay for the implementation of Ranked Choice Voting.
The general thrust of HR 5314 does not deal with election administration. Instead it limits presidential power and strengthens congressional subpoena power. The bill makes it illegal for presidents to pardon themselves, among many other provisions.
UPDATE: the only Republican who voted for the bill is Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
Kevin Johnson and Alexander Vanderklipp have published this paper on how Canada is able to run its election administration (including drawing districts) in a non-partisan and efficient manner. All Canadian political parties acknowledge the competence and fairness of Canadian election administration.
Johnson and Vanderklipp are part of Election Reformers Network. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.
The recall vote on Seattle citycouncil member Kshama Sawant is now virtually tied, after another day of counting ballots. See the King County election returns here.
On December 8, the Ohio Supreme Court heard the lawsuit that challenges the Ohio legislative districts as partisan gerrymanders. The Ohio Constitution was amended by the voters in 2015 to say that districts must be fair to all political parties. See this story. It seems somewhat likely that the Court will invalidate the districts, even though the court has four Republicans and three Democrats.
