Madeline Malisa, a Portland, Maine, fellow with Opportunity Solutions Project, told a Kansas Senate committee the state should ban ranked-choice voting because the process required legitimate ballots to be discarded to deliver a majority vote winner in elections. (Kansas Reflector screen capture of Kansas Legislature’s YouTube channel)
TOPEKA — Registered Republican Nichola Simpson offered an argument Thursday aimed at convincing the Kansas Legislature to deflect an attempt to amplify the illegality of cities, counties or the state initiating any form of ranked-choice voting in elections for public office.
Simpson, of Lawrence, insisted opposition to a Kansas Senate bill banning this alternative approach to voting wasn’t based on partisan ideology. Simpson indicated his openness to the possibilities of ranked choice voting, or RCV, respected the angst felt by Kansas Republicans frustrated by Gov. Laura Kelly’s back-to-back victories despite the Democrat’s inability to earn a majority of votes cast.