Radical Ranked-Choice Voting Scheme Invades Small Town in America — Irmo, SC Resident Sounds the Alarm

A resident of Irmo, South Carolina, is raising concerns after the town council recently approved a controversial resolution supporting Ranked-Choice Voting.

Better Ballot SC, a “nonpartisan” grassroots movement led by Nicole Sanchez, has reportedly been lobbying local officials across the state to adopt a dangerous election experiment known as “ranked choice voting” (RCV)—or, as they slickly rebrand it, “instant runoff voting” (IRV).

Under IRV, voters rank candidates by preference, and votes are reallocated through multiple rounds until a candidate surpasses 50%.

According to its website:

• IRV is a simple, fair, and easy way to enable more voices and provide more choices for South Carolina voters.
• IRV ensures the winning candidate has majority (More than 50%) support and that similar candidates can’t split the vote or “spoil” the election.
• Instead of picking just one candidate, IRV allows you to rank any or even all the candidates on your ballot — ensuring EVERY VOTE MATTERS.

A concerned reader tipped off The Gateway Pundit about this disturbing trend, writing, “I’m very concerned about an organization, Better Ballot SC, contacting local officials in small towns to push ranked choice voting.”

The Irmo Town Council, swayed by slick talking points about “saving money” and “more voter choice,” has now thrown its support behind this scheme.

“Our town council, Irmo Town Council, recently voted in favor of a resolution for ‘ranked choice voting’ or as the organization calls it, ‘Instant Runoff Voting.’ They use talking points like it will save the town election money by not having a runoff and voters have more choice.”

The current system in Irmo—where the candidate with the most votes wins—is simple, transparent, and effective.

You vote for your candidate, the votes are tallied, and a winner is declared. Done. No gimmicks, no tricks.

But apparently, that’s not good enough for Nicole Sanchez and her crew at Better Ballot SC, who claim IRV will magically “fix” elections by forcing voters to rank candidates in order of preference.

If your top pick doesn’t win, your vote gets shuffled to your second choice, and so on, until someone claims a majority.

“Right now municipalities have to choose between costly runoffs or risk their elected officials not securing a majority of winners, a common problem across the state,” Nicole Sanchez said. “With instant runoff voting, municipalities and voters get the best of both worlds: a way to efficiently find a majority winner without the drop off in voter participation and added expense.”

Lexington Chronicles reported:

At the most recent town council meeting, the Town of Irmo officially passed a resolution supporting Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). The town wants the state legislature to allow towns and municipalities the option to use this voting system.

Irmo currently uses a plurality voting system, where the candidate with the most votes wins even if they don’t have a majority. This is the method used by 117 municipalities in South Carolina.

In contrast, about 150 municipalities in the state use a majority-runoff system. Under this system, if no candidate wins a majority, a second runoff election is held two weeks later to determine the winner.

Experts argue that Instant Runoff Voting offers several benefits, including saving time and money, promoting majority support, reducing political polarization and encouraging greater representation.

Under the current system, voters choose just one candidate. With IRV, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If your first-choice candidate doesn’t win, your vote automatically transfers to your second-choice candidate.

RCV has been criticized and rejected in various parts of the United States. In recent elections, voters in several states, including Nevada, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, and Missouri, have voted against implementing RCV.

Two U.S. states—Maine and Alaska—use ranked-choice voting (RCV) for state and federal elections. Maine implemented RCV in 2018, applying it to federal elections and state primaries. Alaska adopted RCV in 2020, using it for all state and federal general elections, except presidential elections.

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