Opinion:  So the State turned down other city and towns' Home Rule Petitions;  does this mean there is no viable path forward for RCV in Salem?  

Maybe not, but it may be in another form.

As of this date, City Councillor, Andy Varela is still moving forward with putting Ranked Choice Voting as a question on the November 2025 ballot simply asking the voters of Salem if they would want it or not.  The proposed language for the ballot question might be amended then must be approved by the City Council before it can become a ballot question.  Andy's proposal for Salem RCV encompasses single seat elections for Mayor and Ward Councillors as well as multi-seat elections for Councillors At Large and the School Committee.  Having a consensus by the voters on RCV would be important for our local representatives to decide whether or not to submit a Home Rule Petition on RCV to the state legislature or perhaps pursue another viable path should one arise.  Boston is continuing to pursue the HRP path through City Council so not everyone is giving up on this process.

Partners in Democracy is taking on the statewide effort of Democracy renovation.  PID is concerned about our state legislature's ineffectiveness in serving its constituents.  Danielle Allen is leading this state wide push.  

Among many voter reforms on their 2024 legislative agenda  they support H.711, An Act providing a local option for ranked choice voting in municipal elections. This bill would allow communities to adopt ranked choice voting, without having to seek approval from the state. By removing barriers so that our towns and cities can more easily enact election rules that work for them, we can expand the right to see and shape our communities for all Massachusetts residents.  

PID's position on RCV elections for the Commonwealth seems to be different from the failed 2020 RCV initiative.   On their website  under 2024 Action Plan, they are seeking community feedback on updating our state  primary process, likely to a Top 5 election system, so people can better make their voices heard. The Top 5 model is similar to Alaska’s new system. Instead of partisan primaries, this model uses a single nonpartisan preliminary election where candidates from all parties, including independents, run on one ballot. Then, the top 5 candidates who get the most votes move on to a general election using an instant runoff with ranked choice voting. 

There are definitely bumps in the road to making Ranked Choice Voting our standard election system.  In fact one might suspect that promoting it is irrelevant should  our current form of Democracy vanish after November.  Indeed, this writer believes that if we already had  RCV in place we might not have the political turmoil we have today.   I am still optimistic that others will recognize its importance  and that we will continue to have a democracy that can be improved.

Claudia Lyons, Ocean Avenue

July 8, 2024