RCV among election clerks

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Rachel MacNair

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May 19, 2021, 4:36:54 PM5/19/21
to Better Ballot KC
Friends --

Election clerks in Missouri held one of their two annual conferences at Lake of the Ozarks May 17-19. Two of us registered for a day - Connor Toth and me, Rachel MacNair - to talk with people. This is a particularly important group to reach, because they regard Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) as an administrative hassle. They're one of the few groups we deal with that actually formally oppose RCV. Yet they're friendly folks, and easy to talk with. 

MO Secretary of State (SOS) Ashcroft presented there, as usual. Normally, we know he's no fan of RCV, and so we wouldn't have brought the topic up - getting a negative answer in front of a negative crowd isn't usually good strategy. 

But this year we had an opening: a movement in the legislature to do a runoff next year for state-wide offices. So, adding an election by voting in June first and then the top vote-getters in August. This idea made folks groan, so saving the millions of dollars and effort on an extra election by doing instant run-off, which is what RCV is, was so obvious an advantage that it seemed good to point that out. In fact, one of the guys who was carrying mikes around for the questioners came over and encouraged us to do it.

So Connor did, and the result was actually helpful. While Ashcroft did indicate displeasure with RCV, he also made the point that if it was going to happen, there needed to be plenty of time to prepare, do voter education, etc. So he gave a sense that this was something that may likely be coming. And the whole audience was better educated. 

I went and spoke with Ashcroft afterward, and his Chief of Staff Trish Vincent. She regards RCV as a local issue, and said they wouldn't be clarifying anything in the regulations about it unless it actually came up. 

I went through the scenario of Kansas City passing a charter amendment, and she said yes, at that point, they would do a legal search to see what Missouri law is for the sake of any needed regulation changes. This of course makes for a chicken-and-egg which-comes-first problem if KC wants to know it's OK with state law before putting it on the ballot.

This is why we're having an election-law expert do a legal memo on what state law is about RCV, getting the legal legwork done for both the Council and the SOS office. We'll be sending you more about this later, showing how it advances the case to get RCV done in Missouri, so stay tuned.

-- Rachel MacNair
for Better Ballot KC

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