Voters of at least three cities in Michigan—East Lansing, Kalamazoo, and Royal Oak—will decide on ranked-choice voting (RCV) initiatives on Nov. 7, 2023. The initiatives would provide that RCV would go into effect when state law is changed to allow local governments to enact RCV. As of 2023, state law prevents localities from using RCV in Michigan.
The organization Rank MI Vote sponsored the initiatives. “This improved method of voting would make Michigan elections more competitive and fair by encouraging the participation of more candidates and parties, and by ensuring outcomes that more accurately reflect the will of the voters,” stated Rank MI Vote.
More than 100 years ago, in 1918, voters in Kalamazoo approved a charter amendment to enact an electoral system known as proportional representation or the single-transferable vote. Today, in the U.S., this system is sometimes referred to as multi-winner RCV. The charter amendment received 78% of the vote. In 1920, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the single-transferable vote system adopted in Kalamazoo “[abridged] the right of elective franchise.”
