An electoral system that ensures every candidate who wins public office has the backing of a majority of voters is set to be prohibited in Indiana.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly gave final approval Tuesday to a statewide ban on ranked choice voting that will take effect July 1 after Republican Gov. Mike Braun signs into law Senate Enrolled Act 12.
Under ranked choice voting, also known as instant runoff voting, voters select their top choice in each race and have the option of ranking all the other candidates.
If no one achieves majority support with the first-place rankings, then the votes cast for the candidate with the lowest number of first choices are redistributed to the other candidates based on who is ranked second, and the process continues until one candidate reaches a majority.
In comparison, Indiana's current plurality electoral system simply recognizes the person who receives the most votes for an office as the winner, regardless of their overall support among the electorate.
That's how, for example, Braun won the 2024 GOP nomination for Indiana governor with just 40% of the vote in a six-candidate race, even though 60% of Hoosier Republicans preferred someone else as the party's gubernatorial nominee.
State Rep. Tim Wesco, R-Osceola, the sponsor of the ranked choice vote ban, said he views the increasing interest in the system as "a disturbing trend around the country," and even though it's not currently used in Indiana, he wants to "make it crystal clear that it is not allowed in our state or anywhere at the local level."
"This misguided practice is fraught with issues in its attempt to manufacture a fake majority, and in the process ballots are disregarded, error rates increase and election results are delayed. It is a chaotic and unreliable method of voting," Wesco said.
State Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, disagreed. He said ranked choice voting is especially useful in races with more than two candidates to ensure the person elected to office has broad support, rather than just the backing of a hardcore minority.
"I don't think ranked choice voting is a threat to our democracy. If you look at where it's getting used, it's not chaotic and people kind of like it," Pierce said.
Notably, ranked choice voting was employed by the Indiana Republican Party in 2020 when it switched to a virtual convention due to the COVID-19 pandemic and relied on ranked choice mail-in ballots to select its attorney general nominee from among four candidates.
Records show incumbent Attorney General Curtis Hill Jr. led the four-candidate field on the first two ballots, but fell short of the 876 votes needed for the majority required to claim the nomination.
After the first-place votes for low vote-getters, Zionsville attorney John Westercamp and Decatur County Prosecutor Nate Harter, were reassigned to the voters' second- or third-ranked candidates, Todd Rokita ultimately won the nomination in the third round with 52.15% of the convention delegates' votes compared to Hill's 47.85%.
Rokita's office did not respond to a request for comment on the Legislature approving a ranked choice voting ban that Rokita would be obligated to defend as Indiana's attorney general if the statute ever is challenged in court.
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