Ranked-choice voting requires second ballot

Auditor says it could take a week before result is known

George Le Masurier

of the Gateway

You approved it. Now get ready for ranked-choice voting in Pierce County elections.

Starting this fall, you will receive two separate ballots on election day, or in the mail for absentee voters.

One will look like a traditional ballot, and you will vote for one candidate for president, governor and other state offices.

But the other ballot will look different — it will require you to vote for your top three choices for county offices, such as County Executive.

County Auditor Pat McCarthy told the Gig Harbor Rotary Club recently that ranked-choice voting also means the eventual winner in county races may not emerge until Friday or Saturday following election day, which is Nov. 4.

That’s because of how ranked-choice voting actually works.

Voters this year will see four choices for county executive on the ballot and six for assessor-treasurer. You pick your first choice, the person you most want to win the election. But the ballot also asks you to pick second and third choices.

On election day, all the first-choice votes will be counted. If one candidate has received a majority of the first choice votes, they win.

If none of the candidates have a majority after the first-choice votes are counted, the candidate with the fewest number of first-choice votes is eliminated.

Election officials then would count the second-choice preferences of the losing candidate’s ballots and give those votes to the remaining candidates.

If a majority still doesn’t exist, then the next candidate with the fewest first-choice votes would be eliminated, and their second-choice votes would be distributed.

The process would continue until a winner is declared.

If both your first- and second-choice candidates get eliminated, then your third-choice vote would be counted.

McCarthy said her office has developed a computer program to do the complex calculations, which would take about 24 hours.

And with a heavy turnout expected for this year’s presidential election, it could take several days to determine a winner.

McCarthy said 40 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the primary. She expects a turnout of more than 80 percent on Nov. 4.

With 449,504 registered voters and a high percentage of them expected to cast two ballots apiece — the traditional and the ranked choice — the county could have nearly 800,000 ballots to count.

McCarthy said 77 percent of Pierce County voters file absentee ballots. Only 23 percent physically go to polling booths.

McCarthy told Rotarians she personally opposed the ranked-choice amendment and spoke against it at the 2006 Charter Review Commission hearing. She said it will cost the county an extra $2 million to implement.

But voters approved the amendment, possibly because they didn’t like the “pick-a-party” primary after a Supreme Court decision threw out the blanket primary system.

Pierce County Council Chair Terry Lee said if the ranked-choice voting method causes too many problems and voters dislike it, the council could dissolve it by a super-majority of five votes. The council could then institute a top-two primary like the rest of the state.

Gig Harbor resident Kelly Haughton, a Charter Review Commission member, championed the ranked-choice voting system. At the time, he said it would give voters more choices and allow minor parties equal opportunity on the ballot with the two major parties.

Reach Publisher George Le Masurier at 253-853-9248 or by e-mail at publisher@gateline.com.