The promise ranked choice voting (RCV) proponents made nearly two years ago was that new people would get elected to more offices with more votes. If the June primary is any indication, that was all talk.
For the most part, the winners in the Democratic primary could be called the usual suspects: current or previous DC councilmembers, or other officeholders, including present or past members of the District’s statehood delegation, who technically are lobbyists but front as congressional officials wearing the titles of shadow representative and shadow senator.
Should District residents expect similar results in the general election? Probably.
Consider, as an example, the at-large council race. The three party nominees — Republican Darrell Green, Statehood Green Party member Darryl Moch and Democrat Oye Owolewa, who currently serves as DC’s elected shadow representative — are all known in the local political class.
Nine other individuals, all registered as independents, picked up petitions from the DC Board of Elections earlier this summer, hoping to qualify for a place on the November ballot. They were required to submit the valid signatures of no less than 3,000 duly registered DC voters.
Two of the nine had formally withdrawn from the race by Aug. 3. Of the seven remaining candidates, Joseph Jackson, Nina Taylor, Danielle Urey and Councilmember Elissa Silverman filed their petitions by the Aug. 5 deadline. Silverman has indicated that she submitted 4,000 signatures with the help of 80 volunteers.
Silverman returned to the legislature last month, after winning the special election to fill the remaining months of former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie’s term. To serve a full four years, she has to win in November. Before she lost her 2022 reelection bid, Silverman had served eight years on the council.
What is the probability of one of the lesser-known contenders emerging victorious over Silverman and Owolewa? How will implementation of ranked choice voting affect the dynamics?
During recent interviews with Elections Board officials and some RCV experts, I was told that the same tabulation system used in the primary will be deployed for the pick-two at-large council race.
A voter’s top-ranked candidate will count in the initial tabulation. If a voter has the winner of that initial round ranked first, their ballot will be put aside at that point. Thus, even if that voter has selected a second candidate, their ballot will not be included in any subsequent rounds.
