There’s a backroom back-and-forth on what one insider reported is a serious effort being debated on how to expand so-called “ranked voting” in Michigan, which might include a statewide petition drive to get the job done.
MIRS has learned that three strategies are under consideration, including the petition drive route.
Another option involves litigation, which could be an expensive and protracted process. Another option is moving on the three bills now in the legislative hopper. That would be faster and less expensive, but not as far-reaching as a ballot proposal that could include the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, U.S. Senate among others under the ranked voting rubric used in Alaska.
Ranked voting is an alternative to the traditional primary voting in which candidates for all parties are on the same ballot. Voters rank their preferences numerically and the candidates with the most points move on to the general election. Under this process, two candidates from the same party could advance to the general election.
Voters in five Home Rule cities have chosen to go to ranked choice if the state allows locals to adopt it. East Lansing and Kalamazoo recently joined Ann Arbor, Ferndale and Royal Oak in supporting this process.
A source says House Elections Committee Chair Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) has been approached about moving the legislation, but she has other election reform items to handle and therefore has not made a firm commitment to the group Rank Mi. Vote (RMV) to move it up on the committee agenda.
The RMV folks reached out to Voters Not Politicians, which ran a winning petition drive to end the gerrymandering of legislative districts, but the initial overtures did not produce an endorsement from VNP, which is now under new leadership with the departure of one-time executive director Nancy Wang.
In the meantime, internal skull sessions on what to do will likely renew in earnest after the first of the year, with the fate of a new form of voting hanging in the balance.
