| Eric Buhler | Billings Gazette |
Representative Nikolakakos (R) from Great Falls said on the House floor, “It’s not complicated…It’s very simple. It’s very easy…and we should not override local control for a type of voting that is basically just an instant runoff.”
In Montana, even though no jurisdiction currently uses RCV, HB 598 seeks to preemptively ban RCV from being used or even considered in Montana.
”More civil and competitive
Ryan Williamson from R Street Institute recently reviewed Alaska’s first run with RCV and Final Four Open Primaries. “A review of initial evidence found that races in the state became more civil and competitive overall,” writes Williamson. “Importantly, Alaskans viewed the process favorably, largely describing it as ‘simple’ despite some arguments to the contrary.” In addition, Walter Olson from the Cato Institute states, “Alaska’s new election system appears to have made races more competitive and voters found it easy to use. Candidates with crossover appeal may have benefited, but contrary to some chatter, Republicans overall did just fine.”
Eric Buhler is the executive director of RCV Montana, a grassroots nonpartisan nonprofit that seeks to educate Montana about alternative voting methods such as ranked-choice voting.
