On Wednesday, the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) commends West Virginia State Sen. Woodrum and Rep. Hillenbrand’s tireless work on SB 490, which will ban ranked-choice voting in West Virginia elections. With Gov. Morrisey’s signature yesterday, West Virginia now joins 11 other states in protecting the integrity of their elections against this scheme.
Ranked-choice voting flips our traditional American system—one person, one vote—in favor of a complicated, black-boxed ranking system with multiple rounds of computer tabulations. Where it’s been implemented, ranked-choice voting has led to voter disenfranchisement, trashed ballots, counting errors, and delayed results.
“Sen. Woodrum and Rep. Hillenbrand boldly led the way to protect West Virginia voters by spearheading a complete ban on ranked-choice voting in the Mountain State,” said Emma Garelick, State Government Affairs Director at FGA. “An electoral system that causes chaos, confusion, and careless errors had no place in West Virginia. With this ban now firmly in law, West Virginians can continue to go to the polls, vote their values, and have confidence in the process.”
“Ranked-choice voting is a brazen attack on the integrity of our elections,” Garelick added. “There has been an effort to implement it across the country, but West Virginia proudly rose up and said, ‘Not in our state!’”
