Rank choice voting changes the traditional democratic principle that the candidate with the most votes wins. Under RCV, the ballot lets the voter choose multiple names in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority, the bottom contender is eliminated and that person’s votes are reassigned to their second choices (or third or fourth, as the process goes on).

Pierce County had approved RCV in 2006. It was voted out in 2009 by 70% of the voters after being used two years. Why? Voters were confused and felt cheated.

RCV is a scheme to disconnect elections from issues and allow candidates with marginal support from voters to win. It obscures true debates and issue-driven dialogs among candidates and eliminates genuine choices between two top-tier candidates.

RCV disenfranchises voters, because ballots that do not include the two top finalists are cast aside to manufacture a faux majority for the winner.

Voters do not need a computer to manipulate their votes based on a computer algorithm. RCV is a confusing system and is not straight forward as compared to our current system which has served our voters well over time. Please vote NO for Rank Choice Voting.

Paul Dossett

Past SJC Assessor

2021 CRC Commissioner

Friday Harbor