| Mark Ladao | Hawaii Public Radio |
One [question] would ask residents if city officials should be elected by ranked-choice voting. Voters would be able to select their top five candidates for each race, and their ballots — and rankings — will be tabulated in a way that results in a candidate that gets more than 50% of votes.
If the proposal passes, and with state authorization, city elections could use ranked-choice voting as early as 2032.
”More opportunity for a more diverse set of candidates
“The last charter commission asked us to research ranked choice voting 10 years ago. We did, and we found that ranked-choice voting means more opportunity for a more diverse set of candidates,” said Commissioner Trey Gordner. “We found that it means more choices for voters, and we heard from testifiers that it leads to a more collegial sort of democracy in which people are competing for second choices, and so you don’t have these sorts of nasty campaigns.”