30 November 2023

From: Laura Mettle, Vice President of the League of Women Voters of Howard County.

To: The Honorable Senator Clarence Lam and The Honorable Delegate Jessica Feldmark,
Members of the Howard County Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly

Testimony in FAVOR of:

HoCo 6-24, Board of Education Elections - Ranked Choice Voting

The League of Women Voters of Howard County supports this bill. 

The League of Women Voters of the United States “supports electoral systems at each level of government that encourage participation, are verifiable and auditable, and enhance representation for all voters. In addition, we support electoral systems that maximize effective votes, minimize wasted votes, and promote sincere voting over strategic voting.”  Governments are encouraged to implement alternatives to plurality voting,” such as Ranked Choice Voting, to systems that permit a candidate with a plurality of votes to win an election. (emphasis added)

The League of Women Voters of Maryland also believes it is important that “election systems produce representation that reflects community sentiment, are easy for the voter to understand, help ensure minority views and interests have some influence in selecting elected officials, maximize the power of each voter’s vote, and help promote more openness and responsiveness between candidates and constituents.” Ranked Choice Voting can meet all of these criteria. 

Furthermore, LWVMD holds that “if a majority of votes is required to win an election, Ranked Choice Voting is the preferred method of determining such a majority. The League specifically supports the option to use Ranked Choice Voting (or Instant Runoff Voting)  to fill vacancies in any single seat or executive office elections, at the local, county or state level. This method would save time and money, instead of conducting both special political primaries and a special general election to fill a vacancy.”  (emphasis added)

Testimony in FAVOR of: 

HoCo 1-24, Public Campaign Financing - Board of Education

The League of Women Voters of Howard County supports this bill. 

The LWVMD expresses “support for improved methods of financing political campaigns in order to ensure the public’s right to know, combat corruption and undue influence, enable candidates to compete more equitably for public office and promote citizen participation in the political process.” The LWVUS supports  “Public financing of elections, either voluntary or mandatory, in which candidates must abide by reasonable spending limits.”

The League of Women Voters of the United States “supports electoral systems at each level of government that encourage participation, are verifiable and auditable, and enhance representation for all voters. In addition, we support electoral systems that maximize effective votes, minimize wasted votes, and promote sincere voting over strategic voting.” Governments are encouraged to implement alternatives to plurality voting,” such as Ranked Choice Voting, to systems that permit a candidate with a plurality of votes to win an election. (emphasis added)

The League of Women Voters of Maryland also believes it is important that “election systems produce representation that reflects community sentiment, are easy for the voter to understand, help ensure minority views and interests have some influence in selecting elected officials, maximize the power of each voter’s vote, and help promote more openness and responsiveness between candidates and constituents.” Ranked Choice Voting can meet all of these criteria.

Furthermore, LWVMD holds that “if a majority of votes is required to win an election, Ranked Choice Voting is the preferred method of determining such a majority. The League specifically supports the option to use Ranked Choice Voting (or Instant Runoff Voting) to fill vacancies in any single seat or executive office elections, at the local, county or state level. This method would save time and money, instead of conducting both special political primaries and a special general election to fill a vacancy.” (emphasis added)

The LWVMD expresses “support for improved methods of financing political campaigns in order to ensure the public’s right to know, combat corruption and undue influence, enable candidates to compete more equitably for public office and promote citizen participation in the political process.” The LWVUS supports “Public financing of elections, either voluntary or mandatory, in which candidates must abide by reasonable spending limits.”