Welcome to the Friday, April 5, Brew.
By: Samuel Wonacott
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Seventy-seven percent of the elections Ballotpedia covered in March were uncontested
- State lawmakers more likely in 2024 to advance bills repealing or banning ranked-choice voting (RCV) than implementing it
- #FridayTrivia: How many state legislative seats are open this year because of term limits?
Seventy-seven percent of the elections Ballotpedia covered in March were uncontested
As part of Ballotpedia’s growing coverage of the nation’s local elections (with a goal of eventually covering all of them), we will be issuing monthly reports on the results, trends, and emerging issues we discover. Here’s a link to our February report.
Today, we’re looking at the elections we covered in March. Of 6,984 elections up and down the ballot (excluding the presidential primaries) in 26 states, 77% were uncontested.
That’s an increase from February, when 46% of the 318 elections we covered were uncontested.
An uncontested election is one where the number of candidates on the ballot is less than or equal to the number of seats up for election. This analysis includes congressional, state, and local elections within Ballotpedia’s regular coverage scope, as well as elections outside of that scope in some states. Click here for more information on the elections included in this analysis.
In some states, uncontested elections are canceled or omitted from candidate lists. While we try to identify and include as many canceled elections as possible through direct outreach to local election officials, it’s likely that contested elections are overrepresented in this analysis.
March’s rate of uncontested elections was greater than the 58% average rate identified between 2018 and 2023. For comparison, since 2018, each year has had more elections uncontested than contested except for one, in 2021, when 50.4% of the elections Ballotpedia covered were contested.
Four of the 26 states had more than 1,000 elections in March—Arkansas, California, Ohio, and Texas. Among those four states, Arkansas and Ohio had the highest rate of uncontested elections, tied at 84%, while California had the lowest at 66%.
State lawmakers more likely in 2024 to advance bills repealing or banning ranked-choice voting (RCV) than implementing it
More ranked-choice voting (RCV) bans and repeals are advancing in state legislatures compared to new authorizations in this year’s state legislative sessions.
RCV is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. There are multiple forms of ranked-choice voting. Our RCV hub serves as your one-stop shop for learning what RCV is, how it’s used, its history, and why people support or oppose its use. This resource also helps you keep tabs on RCV-related state legislation and ballot measures.
Forty bills introduced this year would ban or repeal uses of RCV, while 69 would establish a new use of RCV. But, prospective bans make up a greater share of bills that have passed at least one legislative chamber as of March 29.
Let’s dig a little deeper into these bills, starting with the ones that would ban or repeal RCV.
Bills banning or repealing RCV
Lawmakers in 19 states have introduced legislation that would ban or repeal ranked-choice voting in their states. Eight of these bills, in seven states, have passed at least one legislative chamber. All but one of these states has a Republican trifecta. One of those bills, in Utah, passed the House but failed in a floor vote in the Senate.
Here’s a look at a few of the eight bills banning or repealing RCV that’ve passed at least one chamber:
- Arizona: SCR1011 and HCR2001 would place on the ballot an amendment to the state constitution specifying that only U.S. citizens who are at least 18 years-old can vote in the state. This bill effectively prohibits RCV by stipulating that “a person may not vote for more candidates for an office than the number of offices to be filled.”
- Georgia: SB355 amends election code and adds the clause: “Ranked-choice voting shall not be used in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office.”
- Iowa: HF2610 adds a provision to state election code that says: “An election in this state shall not be conducted using ranked choice voting or instant runoff voting”
- Oklahoma: HB3156 adds a provision to election code that says: “No election conducted by the State Election Board, a county election board, or any municipality authorized to conduct elections in Oklahoma shall use ranked choice voting, ranked voting, proportional ranked voting, preferential voting, or instant runoff voting.”
Since 2021, five states with Republican trifectas banned or prohibited ranked-choice voting (RCV), including three states that did so last year.
Bills allowing or requiring new uses of RCV
Four bills in Maine, Vermont, and Virginia that would allow or require new uses of RCV have passed more than one chamber.
- Maine: LD1578 requires RCV for presidential primaries and makes Maine a member of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. This bill has passed both chambers of the Maine Legislature.
- Vermont: S32 implements RCV for presidential primaries.
- Virginia: SB270 would allow presidential primaries to use ranked-choice voting.
- Virginia: SB248 would permit the use of RCV for any local or constitutional office. This bill has passed both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly.
Maine’s LD1578 is the only bipartisan-sponsored ranked-choice voting bill that has passed a legislative chamber.
In total, there have been 119 RCV bills active in this year’s legislative sessions, with 90 of these introduced since the beginning of the year.
Data in this analysis comes from our Legislation Tracker, a free tool you can use to election administration bills in your state.
Last year, we released a four-part series on RCV through On the Ballot, our weekly podcast. We talked with leading experts on both sides of the RCV debate. Listen to the episodes below:
- What’s the RCV landscape look like across the country?
- Should RCV continue to expand?
- Should RCV be repealed?
- RCV’s long history and many different variations
We’ll return in future editions of The Brew to update you on RCV bills and laws this year. Learn more about RCV at the link below.
#FridayTrivia: How many state legislative seats are open this year because of term limits?
In the Monday Brew, we looked at term limits—specifically, how many seats are open this year because incumbents are term-limited and cannot run for re-election. This is a topic near and dear to our hearts, as we’ve been publishing reports on the effect of term limits on state legislative elections since 2010.
Overall, term limits in 12 states will affect legislative elections for districts in 12 senate and 10 house chambers.
How many state legislative seats are open this year because of term limits?
