Charlottesville may not be adopting ranked-choice voting after all (2024)

With its inclusion on Tuesday’s consent agenda, Charlottesville City Council was poised to adopt ranked-choice voting, making it only the second Virginia locality to do so.

But plans have changed, and councilors now say they need more time to discuss the matter.

At its Aug. 19 meeting, Council put an ordinance adopting ranked-choice voting for the upcoming Council primary next June on the consent agenda, which is intended for routine and noncontroversial items. In doing so, the new ordinance was virtually guaranteed to pass.

Since then, the item has been removed from the consent agenda, indicating the ordinance was at some risk of being voted down.

“Any Councilor can request that an item be taken off the consent agenda if there is more discussion that needs to be had,” Councilor Lloyd Snook told The Daily Progress in an email. “We were talking among ourselves, and realized that we all had more questions that needed further explication, so it was made into a regular agenda item.”

As a regular agenda item, Council will dedicate time during it’s Tuesday meeting to consider whether it wants to go through with bringing ranked-choice voting to the city.

It’s unwelcome news for advocates of the system, who argue ranked-choice voting decreases partisanship and leads to representation that more accurately reflects the positions of voters.

Unlike the current system, ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. It’s intended to give voters more say in election results; if their first choice doesn’t win, their second or third choice might.

The ordinance looked to be on a glide path toward passage, with the focus of councilors’ concern being how to educate voters about the new system. Council members have said publicly that city staff and advocacy groups would need to roll out broad education efforts to make sure voters know what to expect from ranked-choice voting.

The ordinance will not mean Charlottesville has adopted ranked-choice voting for every election, only the June Council primary — for now. Two Council seats will be on the ballot next summer, as Councilor Brian Pinkston and Mayor Juandiego Wade are up for reelection.

There is no set time by which Council must vote on the ordinance, and they could choose to defer the vote for many more weeks. But Councilor Michael Payne told The Daily Progress that if Charlottesville is going to try out the ranked-choice system, it should make a decision by November.

“Practically, voter education about RCV would begin after the November election so finalizing a vote by then is likely the main practical time constraint to ensure there’s the maximum amount of time for outreach/education,” Payne wrote in a text message.

It is not clear exactly what outstanding questions Council has that led councilors to decide they need more time to discuss ranked-choice voting. But comments from their last meeting offer some hints.

It was there that Snook raised issues about the “single transferable vote” method that the ordinance calls for. While the voters would still fill out their ballot by ranking candidates in order of preference, because Charlottesville is a multimember district, the Virginia General Assembly only permits it to use single-transferable vote.

Snook’s concern about that form of ranked-choice voting is this: If a person’s top choice for office wins, their second preference won’t count as a full vote. Instead, only a fraction of their ballot is given to that second candidate.

“My broad concern with the SV system is that as a practical matter, voters don’t really get to choose two candidates,” Snook told The Daily Progress. “STV proponents acknowledge that, and regard it as a good thing. I don’t, and more importantly, I don’t think those who are expressing support for RCV understand that.”

The matter will likely come up when Council discusses the matter on Tuesday. Locals who attend the meeting can voice their support or opposition for the ordinance during public comment.