GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Michigan-based nonprofit organization is heading to Grand Rapids this week to hold a town hall meeting promoting ranked choice voting in the state.
Rank MI Vote is a volunteer organization that is seeking to promote ranked choice voting in a non-partisan way.
The town hall will take place in the ballroom of the McKay Tower on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. McKay Tower is located at 146 Monroe Center St NW in downtown Grand Rapids.
Volunteers from Rank MI Vote will explain to people who attend how ranked choice voting works and why they believe it could help overcome political divisiveness, polarization, and gridlock.
Rank MI Vote explains ranked choice voting as giving voters the option to vote for multiple candidates in a single race, ranking them by preference as their first choice, second choice, third choice and so on.
Once votes are tallied, the candidates receiving the fewest top choices are eliminated and their supporters' votes are counted toward their next choice. This process continues until there is a clear winner.
"Ranked choice voting is the easiest concept. Tonight, my family is going to take me out to dinner for my birthday. I know what my first choice on the menu is, but if the waiter tells me they're out of that choice, I've got a second choice in mind that you know wasn't my first choice, but I'm still going to be happy with it. That's the essence of ranked choice voting as a practical matter," explains Kat Bruner James, Rank MI Vote volunteer and former city council member for the City of Ferndale.
Ranked choice voting is already done on a local level in the cities of Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Kalamazoo and Royal Oak. Nationally, Maine and Alaska use ranked choice voting.
“Voters around the state say they are fed up with choosing between candidates on the extreme ends of the political spectrum, funded by special interests and unwilling to compromise to develop common sense solutions to pressing issues,” said Ron Zimmerman, executive director of Rank MI Vote.
Rank MI Vote is hoping to have a ballot initiative of a constitutional amendment in Michigan to implement ranked choice voting.
The nonprofit will also be hosting a town hall in Whitehall on Friday, Oct. 4, in Holland on Friday, Oct. 18 and in Muskegon on Saturday, Oct. 26. You can find a complete list of cities on the tour here.
