The future of ranked-choice voting in Arlington’s general elections remains undecided as officials await a report on public attitudes.
The Arlington County Board expects to receive said report at a Tuesday, Jan. 28 meeting. The results “will give us a lot to think about,” Board Chair Takis Karantonis, who has seen some of the data, said at an Arlington County Civic Federation meeting last week.
“I remain committed to ranked-choice voting, but I recognize that our path forward is neither rosy … nor linear,” he said.
Using powers delegated by the General Assembly, Board members in late 2022 voted to run the June 2023 Democratic County Board primary under ranked-choice rules. In late 2023, Board members voted to run the 2024 Board primary using the format, then extended it to the general election.
The switch represented a break from a long tradition of winner-take-all elections. Arlington was the first locality in Virginia to make the change.
Ranked-choice machinery only kicks in if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote. In last November’s County Board general election, Democrat JD Spain, Sr., received 58% in a four-candidate field.
While leaving the door open to elimination of ranked-choice voting in general elections, Karantonis suggested the format would be maintained for Board primaries.
In the June 2024 Democratic primary, Spain led the field of five with 32% of the vote. As that was well short of a majority, lesser scoring candidates were successively eliminated and their votes reallocated as directed by voters.
Spain retained a plurality of votes in the second round, fell slightly behind Natalie Roy in the third, then catapulted to 55% of the vote and victory on the fourth.
Karantonis’s appearance at the Jan. 14 Civic Federation meeting was the precursor to a planned work session between Board members and Civic Federation delegates slated for late February.
Among the issues put to Karantonis was how far county leaders might be willing to embrace a series of county-governance-change proposals put forward by the Civic Federation.
“I’m hoping the substance [of the proposals] will be looked at,” said federation delegate Michael Beer.
In remarks during the Board’s organizational meeting on Jan. 7, Karantonis made reference to rekindling the spirit of “The Arlington Way” governance model, but made no specific reference to the Civic Federation’s recommendations.
Those proposals include expanding the number of County Board and School Board seats, reconfiguring the election schedule and allowing Board chairs to hold the post for more than one year at a time.
