Resolution Opposing Ranked Choice Voting & Jungle Primaries

WHEREAS, the scheme of so-called “Ranked Choice Voting” (hereinafter RCV), as well as the Jungle Primary are starting to be promoted in the State of Montana;

WHEREAS, America has operated on a uniform, well-understood election system for over two hundred years;

WHEREAS, RCV schemes are more complex than our traditional one person, one vote system;

WHEREAS, RCV schemes require each voter to “rank” candidates on their ballot, thereby requiring each voter to become informed about the numerous candidate’s positions, policies, backgrounds, philosophies, and views;

WHEREAS, casting a vote in a RCV scheme is difficult, instructions are cumbersome, and ballot error rates are higher that for those of traditional elections, resulting in more citizens having their votes thrown away;

WHEREAS, in traditional elections, every correctly executed ballot is counted, but under a RCV scheme of “ballot exhaustion”, even ballots which follow the instructions to the letter can be thrown out if the voter ranked a candidate who is no longer in contention, while being required to vote for all candidates on the ballot, including those he/she may not support.

WHEREAS, RCV changes and delays the election counting process by requiring ballots to be transported to a centralized location for counting due to multiple rounds of tabulations in the event of an instant runoff, causing delays of days or weeks in the delivery of election results;

WHEREAS, districts using RCV have been found to have lower voter turnout rates;

WHEREAS, the “jungle primary”, (sometimes referred to as a “blanket primary”, “open primary” or “top two primary”) is an election in which all candidates for elected office run in the same primary regardless of political party, leaving the top two candidates who receive the most votes to advance to the next round, as in a run-off election.

WHEREAS, in a jungle primary there is no separate nomination process for candidates before the first round to narrow the field, making it possible that two candidates of the same party could advance to the second round;

WHEREAS, a jungle primary results in electing candidates who appeal to both/all parties;

WHEREAS, supporters of RCV and jungle primaries seek to disempower party primaries;

therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Gallatin County Republican Central Committee rejects Ranked Choice Voting, Jungle Primaries, and all other similar schemes which increase election distrust, suppress voter turnout, disenfranchise voters, eliminate the historic political party system, and depend upon expensive and confusing technology and unelected bureaucrats to manage it: and

Susan D. Evans

Secretary