ACTION ITEM–Help Advance RCV

Nothing happens in government by accident. Anything worth making happen needs advocates. No representative at any level of government hatches ideas out of thin air.

The legislative process at all levels moves in a stepwise fashion and until tomorrow evening we have a chance to advance Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) by one of those steps. (If you’re wondering what Ranked-Choice Voting is and why, in the State of Washington, this step is important, check out http://jxindivisible.org/2020/01/ranked-choice-voting/ or visit https://fairvotewa.org/. RCV is definitely worth learning about as an improvement for our democracy.)

Right now, in our Washington State House of Representatives, there is a Bill, HB 1722 – 2019-20 whose one chance to get a vote this year depends on the Washington State House’s Appropriations Committee scheduling it for a committee vote (eventually that might get the bill to a vote by the whole House). The bill is a necessary for local districts in our State to even consider ranked choice voting as a better method to elect some officials. Why? Currently, by state law all Washington State voting is uniformly mandated as top-two, with each voter getting only one vote. So HB 1722 – 2019-20 would merely enable local governmental districts to consider Ranked-Choice.

And here’s the thing: Timm Ormsby, WA State Rep. from Legislative District 3 (pretty much the City of Spokane) is the Chairperson of the WA State House Appropriations Committee, and he needs a nudge to move this bill along to get it scheduled for a Committee vote. (See below for contact info.)

Here’s a chance to do something in the civic interest. Below I’ve pasted the calling particulars from Trenton Miller, a young man I know who is putting a lot of energy into advancing Ranked Choice Voting for our State:

Currently, the Local Options Bill that would allow jurisdictions the ability to adopt Ranked Choice Voting has untill Tuesday night to be scheduled for a vote in the House Appropriations Committee. We here in the 3rd Legislative District have a particular power to push for this vote to occur, because the chair of this Committee is none other than our own Representative Timm Ormsby. BUT, Representative Ormsby still needs some convincing from constituents that he should schedule the vote.

I ask that each of you call and email Ormsby’s office to urge him to schedule the Local Options Bill for a vote in the House Appropriations Committee? If you’ve done this before, it doesn’t hurt to do this again!

In addition, it would be even more impactful if you personally asked friends and family to do this as well! The higher the volume of calls and emails, the more likely we are to get a vote scheduled.

Here is the contact information for Ormsby’s office and the link to comment directly on the bill:

Timm Ormsby’s Olympia Office: (360) 786 – 7946

Link to Comment on the L.O.B.: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1722&Chamber=House&Year=2019

Points about the Local Options Bill

It does not mandate Ranked Choice Voting at all, it simply gives jursidictions the ability to adopt Ranked Choice Voting
Ranked Choice Voting has shown strong correlation with candidates running more civil and issue-based campaigns
Ranked Choice Voting encourages more candidates and greater participation in our election process

P.S. If you are not a constitent of the 3rd Legislative District that Timm represents, please still give him a call, because representatives advocate for all Washington Residents from their positions within Committees.

Forward,

Trenton Miller | Spokane Chapter Co-Lead

Keep to the high ground,
Jerry