The Case Against Ranked Choice Voting

With a little less than two weeks left to gather the signatures needed, canvassers are working hard to get Initiative 310 on the ballot. This piece of legislation could fundamentally change the way we vote in Colorado, introducing the concept of ranked choice voting. Supporters of RCV say it would level the playing field for third party candidates and offer voters more options at the ballot box. However detractors — like today’s guest, Representative Emily Sirota — are concerned that RCV could interfere with our perfectly good system for casting votes and lead to issues like ballot spoilage. Emily joins producer Paul Karolyi to talk about her last-minute amendment that could challenge the future implementation of something like RCV, and why she’s so concerned about the intentions of the big money donor behind Initiative 310.

Earlier this month, Paul interviewed the folks behind Initiative 310 about why they think Colorado is ready for ranked choice voting. Still confused about what, exactly, RCV is and how it works? We published an explainer, which you can read here, and you can learn more about open primaries from our friends at Colorado Public Radio.

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