by Wendi Strauch Mahoney at Uncover DC
Republican election officials in Virginia voted in May to approve using Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) software for future elections. The decision may mean an eventual shift to RCV in elections statewide. Republicans in Virginia control both the Department of Elections (ELECT) and the State Board of Elections, and yet, they have worked closely with the Left-leaning activists to introduce RCV to the state. ELECT worked with North Carolina-based Ranked Choice Resource Center (RCVRC) to purchase Universal RCV Tabulator (RCTab) software in January 2023 to administer RCV in the state.
We're happy to announce that our in-house ranked choice voting tabulator, RCTab, has been approved for use in the state of Virginia! #RCV pic.twitter.com/wMDPbbvVfP
— RCV Resource Center (@RCVresources) June 6, 2023
According to a June 13 article written for Restoration for America by Hayden Ludwig, “the group’s official name in IRS disclosures is the Election Administration Resource Center.” It is a “spin-off of the ‘progressive’ activist group FairVote.” FairVote has been integral to the adoption of RCV across the nation, engaging in “numerous court battles arising out of or relating to its initiatives,” which also include robust efforts “to eliminate the Constitution’s electoral college.”
The approval document from the Virginia Department of Elections states RCV “was established as an optional method for the election of the county board of supervisors and city council members” during the 2020 Virginia General Assembly Session, which is Democrat-controlled. The legislation opened the door to passing RCV regulations in 2021.
Then in Dec. 2022, the all-Democrat Arlington County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance approving a pilot RCV program for use in its June 2023 primary election, “the first use of RCV in a local contest.” According to Ludwig, Richmond VA Republicans “want to skip Arlington’s test phase altogether and go full-throttle on ranked-choice voting statewide.”
FairVote states on its website that the adoption of the ranked-choice voting pilot in Arlington was “aided by efforts from many organizations including UpVote VA, FairVote Virginia, FairVote Action, the League of Women Voters, RepresentUs, Veterans for Political Innovation, and the Voters First Project.”