Voters in the District could be asked whether they would like to open party primaries to independents and begin ranked choice voting after organizers of a new initiative aiming to do just that submitted thousands of signatures this month.
Now, they have to wait for the D.C. Board of Elections to approve or reject the initiative that could appear on ballots come November.
Lisa D.T. Rice, the proposer of Initiative 83, alongside her group, The YES on 83 Campaign, gathered and submitted around 40,000 signatures from across all eight D.C. wards to the Board of Elections on July 1.
“What that really shows is that we have support across the city,” Rice told WTOP.
If passed, the initiative would implement ranked choice voting for all elections and primaries starting in June 2026. This allows you to vote for your favorite candidate and then rank the rest as backups. That way, if your top candidate is in last place, your vote automatically moves to the next choice available.
Rice told WTOP that many voters got on board after witnessing the crowded Democratic primary for a Ward 7 council member, which had 10 candidates.
“Sometimes life hands you a gift. And I have to tell you, that Ward 7 primary, though it was frustrating for voters, was a gift to this campaign,” she said. “There were, from the perspective of voters that I talked to, four or five really strong — really, really strong candidates. They didn’t like the fact that they could only choose one.”
This is not the first time ranked choice voting has been considered. In 2021, it was proposed through the VOICE Amendment Act, but the D.C. Democratic Party came out against it, stating, “The District faces a substantial challenge with undervoting, which would be exacerbated by ranked choice voting.”
Initiative 83 also opens primaries to people that are not registered to that party. Currently, you must be registered as either a Democrat or Republican in order to vote in one of their primaries.
“I’m an independent, I’m not affiliated with any party, which means I am blocked from exercising my constitutional right to vote,” Rice said. “You hear from a couple of people who said, ‘It’s our primary you shouldn’t be able to vote,’ but as long as it’s taxpayer funded, I should be able to vote.”
A Democratic group has already launched a campaign against Initiative 83. Its website states Initiative 83 “is an attempt to dilute and destroy the Democratic Vote in the District” and “closed primaries provide a safeguard against potential interference from individuals who do not share the Democratic party’s values.”
The D.C. Board of Elections accepted the Initiative 83 petition and it’s currently reviewing petition signatures. The board has until Aug. 5 to determine the sufficiency of the petition and whether it will appear on D.C. ballots for the Nov. 5 election.
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