This week the D.C. Council added funding for ranked choice voting to the 2026 budget, which is set for a vote later this month. The style of voting allows residents to rank the candidates in a race and was approved as part of Initiative 83, which voters approved last November.
The funding, while not in Mayor Muriel Bowser’s budget nor the proposed budget from Council Chair Phil Mendelson, was added through an amendment authored by Ward 1 Council member Brianne Nadeau and At-Large Council member Christina Henderson.
“Ranked choice voting gives residents more choice. They get to select candidates in the order that they like them, but they’re not required to do so,” Nadeau told WTOP.
If the new voting process had been in place during Tuesday’s special election for the Ward 8 council seat, it could have changed the outcome of the race. To win outright, a candidate must get more than 50% of the vote, but former Ward 8 Council member Trayon White had only 28% of the vote.
A situation such as this would have resulted in a second round of counting, in which candidate Salim Adofo, with 22% of the vote, would have been eliminated, and the second choice for those who voted for him would have been used. If a majority of those votes were for Sheila Bunn or Mike Austin, who both had just over 24%, they could have moved into the top position.
Nadeau, speaking to WTOP before Tuesday’s race, pushed back at critics who have claimed the style of voting makes the process more confusing and can disenfranchise voters. She called those claims false.
“In fact, it could give voters more of an incentive to come, because right now, people feel like if their person doesn’t win, then their voice and their vote didn’t matter,” she said.
Another provision of Initiative 83 that remains unfunded is the opening of primaries in D.C.
“I do believe we had seven votes to move forward with that if we had identified the funds. We just couldn’t find them,” Nadeau said.
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