On February 25, the Ohio House passed SB 63, which stops local governments from using Ranked Choice Voting for elections for their own officers. Technically the bill doesn’t outlaw RCV; it just says that any local government that uses it loses state funding. The vote was 65-27. Two Democrats, Representatives Lauren McNally and Daniel Troy, voted for the bill. Otherwise it was a party-line vote.

No local government in Ohio uses Ranked Choice Voting. It is ironic that Ohio’s legislature has passed this bill. In the 1920’s Ohio was a pioneer in the use of alternative voting systems.

The Nevada Secretary of State recently agreed to tally the number of registered voters in unqualified parties that have filed paperwork with their bylaws and officers. Never before had Nevada kept a tally of a party that had never qualified to be on the ballot. The Forward Party tally currently is 80 registered voters.

On February 25, the Virginia House passed SB 322 by 62-36. This is the National Popular Vote Plan bill. Assuming the Governor signs it, Virginia will be the first state that has passed the plan since Minnesota did so in 2023.