Ranked Choice Voting Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4464 To establish the use of ranked choice voting in elections for the offices of Senator and Representative in Congress, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 Mr. RASKIN (for himself, Mr. BEYER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. COOPER, Mr. KEN- NEDY, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PINGREE, Miss RICE of New York, and Ms. PRESSLEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administra- tion A BILL To establish the use of ranked choice voting in elections for the offices of Senator and Representative in Con- gress, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL 3 AUTHORITY. 4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 5 ‘‘Ranked Choice Voting Act’’. 6 (b) FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.— 7 Congress finds that it has the authority to establish the 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4464 IH terms and conditions States must follow in administering 1 elections for the offices of Senator and Representative in 2 Congress because the authority granted to Congress under 3 article I, section 4 of the Constitution of the United States 4 gives Congress the power to enact laws governing the time, 5 place, and manner of elections for such offices. 6 SEC. 2. REQUIRING RANKED CHOICE VOTING FOR ELEC- 7 TION OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help America 9 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended 10 by adding at the end the following new subtitle: 11 ‘‘Subtitle C—Ranked Choice Voting 12 ‘‘PART 1—REQUIRING RANKED CHOICE VOTING 13 FOR ELECTION OF SENATORS AND REP- 14 RESENTATIVES 15 ‘‘SEC. 321. REQUIRING RANKED CHOICE VOTING FOR ELEC- 16 TION OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES. 17 ‘‘(a) RANKED CHOICE VOTING.—Each State shall 18 carry out elections for the office of Senator and the office 19 of Representative in Congress, including primary, special, 20 and general elections for such office, using a system of 21 ranked choice voting (also known as instant runoff voting) 22 under which each voter shall rank the candidates for the 23 office in the order of the voter’s preference, in accordance 24 with this title. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4464 IH ‘‘(b) BALLOT DESIGN.—Each State shall ensure that 1 the ballot used in an election carried out using a system 2 of ranked choice voting under this title meets each of the 3 following requirements: 4 ‘‘(1) The ballot shall be simple and easy to un- 5 derstand. 6 ‘‘(2) The ballot shall include all qualified can- 7 didates for the election and (to the extent permitted 8 under State law) options for voters to select write- 9 in candidates. If feasible, the ballot shall permit vot- 10 ers to rank every candidate in the election. If it is 11 not feasible for the ballot to permit voters to rank 12 every candidate, the State may limit the number of 13 candidates who may be ranked on the ballot to not 14 fewer than 6. 15 ‘‘(3) The ballot shall include such instructions 16 as the State considers necessary to enable the voter 17 to rank candidates and successfully cast the ballot 18 under the system. 19 ‘‘SEC. 322. PROHIBITING ADDITIONAL RUNOFF ELECTIONS. 20 ‘‘(a) PRIMARY ELECTIONS.—No State may hold a 21 runoff primary election for the office of Senator or the 22 office of Representative in Congress after the date estab- 23 lished under State law for the primary election for such 24 office. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4464 IH ‘‘(b) GENERAL ELECTIONS.—No State may hold a 1 runoff general election for the office of Senator or the of- 2 fice of Representative in Congress after the date estab- 3 lished under section 25 of the Revised Statutes of the 4 United States (2 U.S.C. 7) for the regularly scheduled 5 general election for such office. 6 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL ELECTIONS.—No State may hold a 7 runoff special election for the office of Senator or the of- 8 fice of Representative in Congress after the date estab- 9 lished by the State under State law for such special elec- 10 tion for such office. 11 ‘‘SEC. 323. TREATMENT OF PRIMARY ELECTIONS. 12 ‘‘(a) CONDITIONS FOR HOLDING NONPARTISAN 13 BLANKET PRIMARY ELECTIONS.—A State may hold a 14 nonpartisan blanket primary election for the office of Sen- 15 ator or the office of Representative in Congress only if 16 State law provides that at least 3 candidates advance to 17 the subsequent general election, or, if write-in candidates 18 are allowed in the general election, at least 2 candidates 19 advance. 20 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this title 21 shall be construed to require a State to hold a primary 22 election for the office of Senator or the office of Represent- 23 ative in Congress prior to the date established under sec- 24 tion 25 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (2 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4464 IH U.S.C. 7) for the regularly scheduled general election for 1 such office, so long as the determination of the candidates 2 who are elected to such office is based solely on the votes 3 cast with respect to the election held on such date, as de- 4 termined in accordance with the system of ranked choice 5 voting under this title. 6 ‘‘SEC. 324. APPLICATION TO DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND 7 TERRITORIES. 8 ‘‘(a) ELECTION OF DELEGATES AND RESIDENT COM- 9 MISSIONER.—In this subtitle, the term ‘Representative’ in- 10 cludes a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Con- 11 gress. 12 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION TO NORTHERN MARIANA IS- 13 LANDS.—This subtitle shall apply with respect to the 14 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the 15 same manner as this subtitle applies to a State. 16 ‘‘PART 2—TABULATION PROCESS 17 ‘‘SEC. 331. TABULATION PROCESS. 18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 19 ‘‘(1) DETERMINATION OF CANDIDATE’S NUM- 20 BER OF VOTES.—The number of votes received by a 21 candidate in either the initial tabulation or in an ad- 22 ditional round of tabulation shall be equal to the 23 number of ballots on which that candidate is the 24 highest ranked continuing candidate. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4464 IH ‘‘(2) CRITERIA FOR ELECTION.—Except as pro- 1 vided in section 332, a candidate shall be elected to 2 the office of Senator or the office of Representative 3 in Congress (or, in the case of a primary election, 4 shall advance to the general election for such office 5 as provided under the law of the State involved) if— 6 ‘‘(A) the candidate receives a number of 7 votes greater than 50 percent of the number of 8 ballots cast in the election; or 9 ‘‘(B) if the election official carries out ad- 10 ditional rounds of tabulation under subsection 11 (b), the candidate receives the greatest number 12 of votes of the remaining continuing candidates 13 (as described in such subsection). 14 ‘‘(b) PROCESS IN CASE NO CANDIDATE ELECTED 15 UNDER INITIAL TABULATION.— 16 ‘‘(1) ADDITIONAL ROUNDS OF TABULATION.— 17 If, under the initial tabulation of ballots, no can- 18 didate is elected to office (or, in the case of a pri- 19 mary election, no candidate advances to the general 20 election for such office) under the criteria described 21 in subsection (a)(2)(A), the election official shall 22 carry out additional rounds of tabulation in accord- 23 ance with paragraph (2) until only 2 continuing can- 24 didates remain. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4464 IH ‘‘(2) TREATMENT OF BALLOTS IN ADDITIONAL 1 ROUNDS.—In each additional round of tabulation 2 carried out under this subsection— 3 ‘‘(A) the candidate receiving the fewest 4 number of votes among all candidates (or, in 5 the case of a State which applies batch elimi- 6 nation under section 334, each candidate in the 7 batch elimination group) shall be treated as a 8 defeated candidate; 9 ‘‘(B) for each ballot cast for a defeated 10 candidate, the election official shall determine 11 the highest-ranked candidate on the ballot who 12 is a continuing candidate; and 13 ‘‘(C) the vote cast on the ballot shall be 14 transferred to, and added to the total number 15 of votes received by, the highest-ranked con- 16 tinuing candidate determined under subpara- 17 graph (B). 18 ‘‘SEC. 332. SPECIAL RULES FOR NONPARTISAN BLANKET 19 PRIMARY ELECTIONS. 20 ‘‘(a) DETERMINATION OF WINNING CANDIDATES.— 21 In the case of a nonpartisan blanket primary election, a 22 candidate for the office of Senator or the office of Rep- 23 resentative in Congress shall be treated as a winning can- 24 didate and shall advance to the general election for such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 4464 IH office if, during any round of tabulation carried out under 1 this section, the candidate is a continuing candidate and 2 the total number of winning and continuing candidates is 3 equal to or less than the required number of winning can- 4 didates with respect to the election, as provided under the 5 law of the State involved. 6 ‘‘(b) TABULATION PROCESS.— 7 ‘‘(1) ADDITIONAL ROUNDS OF TABULATION.— 8 After the initial tabulation of ballots in a non- 9 partisan blanket primary election, the election offi- 10 cial shall carry out additional rounds of tabulation 11 in accordance with paragraph (2) until the number 12 of winning candidates is equal to the required num- 13 ber of winning candidates with respect to the elec- 14 tion, as provided under the law of the State involved. 15 ‘‘(2) TREATMENT OF BALLOTS IN ADDITIONAL 16 ROUNDS.—In each additional round of tabulation 17 carried out under this subsection— 18 ‘‘(A) the candidate receiving the fewest 19 number of votes among all candidates (or, in 20 the case of a State which applies batch elimi- 21 nation under section 334, each candidate in the 22 batch elimination group) shall be treated as a 23 defeated candidate; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 4464 IH ‘‘(B) for each ballot cast for a defeated 1 candidate, the election official shall determine 2 the highest-ranked candidate on the ballot who 3 is a continuing candidate; and 4 ‘‘(C) the vote cast on the ballot shall be 5 transferred to, and added to the total number 6 of votes received by, the highest-ranked con- 7 tinuing candidate determined under subpara- 8 graph (B). 9 ‘‘SEC. 333. EXCLUSION OF INACTIVE BALLOTS. 10 ‘‘In any round of tabulation of ballots under this 11 part, including the initial tabulation of ballots, a vote shall 12 not be counted for any candidate if it is cast on an inactive 13 ballot. 14 ‘‘SEC. 334. USE OF BATCH ELIMINATION. 15 ‘‘(a) BATCH ELIMINATION DESCRIBED.—At the op- 16 tion of the State, with respect to any candidate elimination 17 round carried out under this subsection, a State may use 18 batch elimination to treat multiple candidates as defeated 19 candidates for purposes of the additional rounds of tabula- 20 tion described in section 331(b)(2) or section 332(b)(2). 21 A continuing candidate is in the elimination batch if it 22 is mathematically impossible for that candidate to be a 23 winning candidate in the election for any of the following 24 reasons: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 4464 IH ‘‘(1) The candidate’s vote total in the initial 1 tabulation of ballots plus all of the votes that could 2 possibly be transferred to the candidate in the addi- 3 tional rounds of tabulation would not be enough to 4 equal or surpass the continuing candidate with the 5 next highest vote total in the initial tabulation of 6 ballots. 7 ‘‘(2) The candidate has a lower current vote 8 total than a continuing candidate described in para- 9 graph (1). 10 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL RULE FOR NONPARTISAN BLANKET 11 PRIMARY ELECTIONS.—In the case of a nonpartisan blan- 12 ket primary election for which tabulation is carried out 13 in accordance with section 332, a candidate may not be 14 in the elimination batch if the candidate’s vote total is one 15 of the top lll vote totals among all continuing can- 16 didates, with the blank space filled in with the required 17 number of winning candidates with respect to the election, 18 as provided under the law of the State involved. 19 ‘‘SEC. 335. TREATMENT OF TIES BETWEEN CANDIDATES. 20 ‘‘If a tie occurs between candidates with the greatest 21 number of votes or the fewest number of votes at any point 22 in the tabulation of ballots under this part and the tabula- 23 tion cannot proceed until the tie is resolved, the tie shall 24 be resolved in accordance with State law. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 Sep 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4464.IH H4464 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 4464 IH ‘‘SEC. 336. DETERMINATION OF VOTES CAST FOR CAN- 1 DIDATES OF POLITICAL PARTIES FOR PUR- 2 POSES OF ACCESS TO BALLOT IN FEDERAL 3 ELECTIONS. 4 ‘‘To the extent that a State takes into account the 5 number of votes cast in an election for candidates of a 6 political party in determining the right of candidates of 7 the party to appear on the ballot in subsequent elections 8 for Federal office in the State, the State shall determine 9 the number of votes cast for a candidate solely on the basis 10 of the initial tabulation of ballots in the election, and shall 11 not take into account any additional round of tabulation 12 under section 331(b) or section 332(b). 13 ‘‘PART 3—PAYMENTS TO STATES TO IMPLEMENT 14 RANKED CHOICE VOTING 15 ‘‘SEC. 341. PAYMENTS TO STATES TO IMPLEMENT RANKED 16 CHOICE VOTING. 17 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS.—Not later than June 1, 2021, the 18 Commission shall make a payment to the State in an 19 amount equal to— 20 ‘‘(1) in the case of the District of Columbia, the 21 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, 22 G [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]