The Ohio House voted overwhelmingly to ban local governments from using ranked choice voting, sending the bill back to the Senate for a change before it goes to Gov. Mike DeWine. The ranked choice voting ban has both a Republican and Democratic sponsor, but the vote in both chambers has split largely along party lines.
Senate Bill 63, sponsored by Sens. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) and Bill DeMora (D-Columbus), passed the Senate 27-5 in May.
On the House floor, Rep. Sharon Ray (R-Medina) said the director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections testified he had serious concerns about ranked choice voting, specifically in terms of certifying when candidates are eliminated before proceeding to the next tabulated round.
"This process would delay election results substantially," Ray said, adding that it might be costly to update voting machines. “The ranked choice voting process creates confusion, delays and distrust in the process while burdening our election officials with the confusing system.”
Ray said 16 states have banned it.
Rep. Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) also spoke for the ban, saying ranking multiple candidates is a threat to election integrity.
“Banning ranked choice voting ensures one person, one vote," Ferguson said. "We aren't voting for three or four or five people. We're voting for one person.”
Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) cited a 2003 study from the University of Minnesota showing that ranked choice voting doesn't reduce negative campaigning or political polarization, and doesn't increase diversity among election officials or voter turnout. But advocates for ranked choice voting have said that report is misleading and included only a few selected studies. They maintain ranked choice voting promotes candidates with the strongest voter support and provides more choice, so voters don't only get to pick from two candidates they dislike.
And Rep. Ashley Bryant Bailey (D-Cincinnati) said local governments should decide this for themselves rather than the state dictating it.
“This bill is not about protecting voters. It's about control," Bryant Bailey said. “If we trust our municipalities to govern, to manage budgets, to administer elections, and to serve their residents, then we must trust them fully and selectively.”
Bryant Bailey also noted that Cincinnati used ranked choice voting for city council elections from 1925 to 1957, reducing the power of the dominant political machine and making council more proportional.
"Under that system, African-American candidates began being elected to council, including Frank A.B. Hall and later Theodore M. Berry, who became our first African-American mayor in Cincinnati," Bryant Bailey said. "Representation expanded. Voices that had long been shut out were finally heard."
SB 63 passed the House 65-27. Only two House Democrats joined all Republicans in voting for the ban, along with three of the Senate’s seven Democrats.
A handful of Ohio communities have been considering ranked choice voting, including Cincinnati and Lakewood. The pro-ranked choice group FairVote reports two states and 48 local jurisdictions use ranked choice voting.
