Although a Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) initiative won’t be on the mid-term ballot in November, a campaign organizer did not rule out the possibility that it will be revived in the future.
Better Elections MO campaigned to allow ranked-choice voting in Missouri by gathering and submitting more than 300,000 signatures with its petition earlier this year, according to media reports.
“Objectively, the Secretary of State and local election authorities found that there were not sufficient signatures on the petitions that were submitted by the Better Elections campaign,” said spokesman Scott Charton. “So, that effectively meant that voters this fall aren't going to have an opportunity to vote on it, which would require refiling an initiative and gathering new signatures, taking another swing at it, and strategically I'm not at liberty to discuss anything going forward of what the plan might or might not be.”
RCV, also known as Final Five Voting, is an election process in which voters choose among all candidates rather than from a partisan ballot. The top five vote-getters in a primary election then go on to a general election. The winner must earn 50% plus one, otherwise, a runoff election takes place.
“We're very much hoping that it'll become the policy at some point,” Charton told the St. Louis Record.
The initiative would eliminate separate partisan primaries in lieu of a combined primary in which all voters can vote for any candidate whether they are Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green or Libertarian. As stated on the Better Elections MO website, only the top four would advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.
Although the Better Elections Amendment had bipartisan support, the staunchest of conservatives, such as St. Louis Tea Party founder Bill Hennessy, opposed it.
Hennessy previously alleged in a Substack column that Gov. Mike Parson and "several legislative leaders are pushing a change to Missouri elections to replace traditional elections with the 'rank choice' process."
The St. Louis Tea Party did not respond to requests for comment.
Rep. Nick Schroer (R-St. Charles) views RCV as a "jungle primary."
“We're not pleased with how it was set up as ranked choice voting when it's more of a jungle primary but I haven't spoken directly to the governor,” Schroer told the St. Louis Record. “I think that is a disaster in and of itself...a ranked choice/jungle primary.”
Like a runoff election, such a primary election would send the top two candidates who receive the most votes to the general election.
“It is not going to be on the ballot in November and I am not aware of the governor taking any position for or against it,” Charton added.
Stephanie Whitaker, deputy communications director for Parson, told the St. Louis Record in an email that the governor does not support Ranked Choice Voting.