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1 H.424
2 Introduced by Representatives Hooper of Burlington and Ode of Burlington
3 Referred to Committee on
4 Date:
5 Subject: Elections; local elections; ranked-choice voting
6 Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to permit towns,
7 cities, and villages to opt-in to a uniform ranked-choice voting system for
8 elections of candidates running for single-seat offices.
9 An act relating to town, city, and village elections for single-seat offices using
10 ranked-choice voting
11 It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
12 Sec. 1. 17 V.S.A. chapter 55, subchapter 4 is added to read:
13 Subchapter 4. Ranked-Choice Voting
14 § 2691a. DEFINITIONS
15 As used in this subchapter:
16 (1) “Candidate” means a candidate running for a single-seat office in a
17 town, city, or village that has adopted the ranked-choice voting system
18 pursuant to section 2691b of this title.
19 (2) “Candidate pairing” means a unique dyadic arrangement of two
20 different candidates contending for an office in an election. If N is the number VT LEG #367642 v.1
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1 of candidates contending for an office, then the number of candidate pairings is
2 N(N-1)/2.
3 (3) “Condorcet winner” means the sole candidate who is the winning
4 candidate in every paired comparison among all candidates.
5 (4) “Paired comparison” or “head-to-head comparison” means an
6 evaluation of two candidates for the purpose of determining which candidate
7 has the greater number of ballots ranking that candidate over the other
8 candidate in the pair.
9 (5) “Plurality” means the election outcome in which one candidate receives
10 more votes than any other candidate, but not necessarily a majority of the votes
11 cast.
12 (6) “Presiding officer” means the town clerk or an alternative official as
13 provided for in section 2452 of this title.
14 § 2691b. RANKED-CHOICE VOTING SYSTEM; APPLICATION
15 (a) Application. Unless otherwise specified by State law, the provisions of
16 the ranked-choice voting system described in this subchapter shall not apply to
17 the election of a candidate running for a single-seat office in a town, city, or
18 village unless that town, city, or village votes, at its annual meeting or at a
19 special meeting called for that purpose, to have those provisions apply.
20 (b) Duration. Once a town, city, or village votes to adopt the ranked-choice
21 voting system described in this subchapter, this ranked-choice voting system VT LEG #367642 v.1
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1 shall be used in that manner until the town, city, or village votes to discontinue
2 use of the system.
3 (c) Australian ballot system. In order to begin using a ranked-choice
4 voting system, a town, city, or village must be using the Australian ballot
5 system, pursuant to section 2680 of this title, at the time of an election using a
6 ranked-choice voting system.
7 § 2691c. RANKED-CHOICE VOTING SYSTEM; BALLOTS
8 (a) Form of ballot. Notwithstanding any contrary provisions in section
9 2681a of this title, a ballot for an election using the ranked-choice system in a
10 town, city, or village shall allow voters to rank candidates in order of ordinal
11 preference. The names of all candidates on the ballot shall be listed in
12 alphabetical order. The ballot shall allow voters to assign rankings to
13 candidates that are equal to the number of printed candidate names and blank
14 write-in lines.
15 (b) Counting votes.
16 (1) A ballot assigning a candidate a lower ordinal preference shall be
17 considered to have assigned a higher ranking to that candidate than to a
18 candidate who was assigned a higher ordinal preference. A ballot assigning a
19 candidate with the lowest ordinal rank shall be considered to have designated
20 that candidate as the highest-ranked candidate on that ballot and the voter’s
21 first-ranked preference.
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1 (2) A voter may assign multiple candidates the same ranking.
2 (3) Any candidate not assigned a ranking on a ballot shall be considered
3 to have a lower ranking than every candidate assigned with any ordinal
4 ranking.
5 § 2691d. RANKED-CHOICE VOTING SYSTEM; IMPLEMENTATION
6 (a) Implementation. A town, city, or village that has adopted the ranked-
7 choice voting system pursuant to section 2691b of this title shall implement its
8 elections of candidates running for single-seat offices in that town, city, or
9 village in accordance with this section.
10 (b) Tabulation at polling places. All elections using the ranked-choice
11 voting system shall be tabulated at polling places by the presiding officer.
12 (c) Initial tabulation. Upon tabulation of the ballots, if a candidate receives
13 a majority of first-ranked preferences, that candidate is declared the winner of
14 the election.
15 (d) Additional tabulation.
16 (1) Upon tabulation of the ballots, if no candidate receives a majority of
17 first-ranked preferences, the ballots shall be tabulated again by paired
18 comparison and examining every possible paired comparison. In each paired
19 comparison, the presiding officer shall note the winning candidate in each
20 paired comparison or if there is instead a tie.
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1 (2) Condorcet winner. If a candidate is the winning candidate in every
2 paired comparison, the candidate shall be declared the winner of the election.
3 (3) No Condorcet winner. If there is no candidate who is the winning
4 candidate in every paired comparison, then the candidate having the plurality
5 of first-ranking preferences is declared the winner.
6 § 2691e. RESULTS REPORTING
7 Results for an election using the ranked-choice voting system shall be
8 published at polling places on the day of the election as soon as practicable
9 after the closing of polling places. Results shall indicate:
10 (1) the number of first-ranked preference ballots each candidate received
11 in the initial tabulation; and
12 (2) an accounting of the paired comparisons, including a list of all paired
13 comparisons, the candidates in each paired comparison, the number of ballots
14 assigned ranking each candidate over the other candidate in each paired
15 comparison, and the winner of each paired comparison.
16 § 2691f. RULEMAKING
17 The Secretary of State shall adopt rules pursuant to 3 V.S.A. chapter 25 for
18 the proper and efficient administration of the ranked-choice system in towns,
19 cities, and villages.
20 Sec. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE
21 This act shall take effect on passage.
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