A resolution expressing support for ranked choice voting in municipal elections in Wisconsin was rejected May 6 by the Appleton Common Council.
The vote was 6 to 9.
“I don’t recall hearing from any constituent asking for this,” council member Chris Croatt said.
The resolution was submitted in April by council member Adrian Stancil-Martin and was cosigned by council members Vered Meltzer and Nate Wolff.
“This is not, in and of itself, an attempt to implement ranked choice voting in Appleton,” Stancil-Martin told the Safety and Licensing Committee. “Under current Wisconsin law, we do not have the authority to do that.”
Rather, Stancil-Martin said the resolution requested that state legislators amend state law to authorize municipalities to decide for themselves whether to implement ranked choice voting.
Stancil-Martin said the resolution was an appropriate form of advocacy for the council to consider.
“The way we conduct elections directly affects representation, participation and trust in government,” he said. “These are not abstract concerns. They are at the core of the work we do.”
What, exactly, is ranked choice voting?
Ranked choice voting is an election method in which voters rank the candidates for an office in the order of their preference: first choice, second choice, third choice, etc.
The Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center describes how the winner is determined.
“If a candidate receives more than half of the first choices, that candidate wins, just like in any other election,” the nonprofit organization says. “However, if there is no majority winner after counting the first choices, the race is decided by an instant runoff. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who ranked that candidate as their first choice will have their votes count for their next choice. This process continues until a majority winner, a candidate with more than half of the vote, wins.”
Ranked choice voting is different from the current method, known as plurality voting, where voters select one candidate and the winner is whoever received the highest number of votes, regardless of whether it was a majority.
The outcome of plurality voting can leave voters feeling disenfranchised. For example, in a four-person race, a candidate could be elected with only 26% of the vote while being opposed by the other 74%.
What does the Appleton resolution say?
The rejected resolution stated that Appleton currently uses a primary election to narrow the number of candidates to two whenever three or more candidates compete for the same position, and that the city uses plurality voting to determine the outcome.
The resolution proclaimed that ranked choice voting, abbreviated as RCV, “determines the candidate with the strongest overall support by allowing voters to cast their ballots for the candidates they wish to without concern of a potential ‘spoiler candidate’ effect.”
A spoiler candidate is someone who has little chance of winning, but whose candidacy still impacts the outcome of the election by drawing votes away from a frontrunner.
The resolution further said:
“WHEREAS, using RCV for municipal general elections would eliminate the need for primary elections, and would in turn be more cost-efficient for the city; and
WHEREAS, eliminating primary elections would minimize the number of trips voters take to the polls, and would streamline the election process; and
WHEREAS, RCV has successfully been implemented in municipalities across the United States, such as Springfield, Illinois; New York City, New York; and Burlington, Vermont; and
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Appleton supports the implementation of ranked choice voting for all municipal elections such as the offices of Mayor and of Alderpersons; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of Appleton urges the State of Wisconsin Senate and Assembly to amend state law to authorize municipalities to enact ranked choice voting for local offices at their discretion.”
Opponents see no need for local resolution
Council and committee members debated the need for the resolution more so than the merits of ranked choice voting.
Council member Katie Van Zeeland said Wisconsin legislators are better equipped to tackle the issue than the Appleton council. She noted state Reps. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, and Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, held a forum at Lawrence University to discuss ranked choice voting.
Council member Denise Fenton concurred.
“There is a bill in the state Legislature for ranked choice voting pretty much every session,” Fenton said.
Council member Brad Firkus said ranked choice voting wouldn’t have a profound effect in Appleton due to the lack of candidates for office.
“Ranking candidates when you only have one or two choices in almost every single election, this just doesn’t really accomplish much,” Firkus said.
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X at @DukeBehnke.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Ranked choice voting fails to gain momentum before Appleton council
Reporting by Duke Behnke, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
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