TRS Staff

A new way of picking candidates in elections is getting off the ground in Utah, where the state’s Lieutenant Governor’s Office recently implemented rules for a new pilot project to allow “ranked choice voting” across cities in Utah ahead of their 2019 elections. Experts and advocates for the program claim it will increase voter participation among the public, provide a better variety of candidates for elected office, and reduce levels of political tribalism.

This preferential style voting is different than traditional “winner takes all” ballots. Maine has also implemented ranked choice voting in general elections. Some localities in Colorado, California, and Minnesota have enacted the process in smaller elections.

According to Ballotpedia:

“A ranked-choice voting system (RCV) is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority. This system is sometimes referred to as an instant runoff voting system.”

For example, Democratic congressional candidate Jared Golden defeated Republican Congress Bruce Poliquin (ME-2) on Thursday in the nation’s first use of ranked choice voting for a congressional race, according to Roll Call. The Democrat won just over 50 percent of the vote in the first round, meaning thus far, eight days after Election Day, Democrats have picked up 35 seats in the House of Representatives.

Regardless, what is the deal with ranked choice voting?

There are certain situations, like in current times, where the two major party candidates – Republican and Democrat – appear to be disappointing, even solely unlikable. One upside to ranked choice voting would be that voters could express their dissatisfaction with particular candidates without nullifying the numerical value of their vote. On the other side of that, candidates would have to perform in a different manner, appealing to the largest portion of the electorate as would be feasible.

In 2017, there was an attempt to institute the preferential voting practices in the Commonwealth. House Bill 2315, introduced by Delegate Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) would have enacted RCV in all statewide elections for the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and the General Assembly.

The bill read:

“With instant runoff voting, voters rank the candidates for each office in order of choice, and only the candidate receiving a majority of the votes for such office is declared the winner. Ballots are initially counted as one vote for the first-choice candidate on the ballot; if no candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, additional rounds of ballot counting are required. In subsequent rounds of counting, each ballot is counted as one vote for that ballot’s highest-ranked advancing candidate and the candidate receiving the fewest votes is eliminated, until one candidate receives a majority of the valid votes in a round.”

The legislation, however, was left in the Privileges and Elections Committee.

As the topics of gerrymandering, election security, and voter turnout begin to dominate conversations of how the future of elections may play out, there is some interest in Virginia, with all beginning to watch Utah to see if the system works well for all Americans.

As Democrats are set to populate the majority of the House of Representatives, many committees, if not all, will now be slanted towards the political left. Running on their message of targeting President Donald Trump, they will now have the legislative power to launch investigations into a near countless amount of issues within the Trump Administration.

The commander-in-chief responded to these claims as “presidential harassment.”

Axios reports that there are almost 100 targets the Democratic Party has identified for investigation, including some that Republicans have blocked since Trump has been in office.

1. President Trump’s tax returns
2. Trump family businesses — and whether they comply with the Constitution’s emoluments clause, including the Chinese trademark grant to the Trump Organization
Trump’s dealings with Russia, including the president’s preparation for his meeting with Vladimir Putin
3. The payment to Stephanie Clifford — a.k.a. Stormy Daniels
4. James Comey’s firing
5. Trump’s firing of U.S. attorneys
6. Trump’s proposed transgender ban for the military
7. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s business dealings
8. White House staff’s personal email use
9. Cabinet secretary travel, office expenses, and other misused perks
10. Discussion of classified information at Mar-a-Lago
11. Jared Kushner’s ethics law compliance
12. Dismissal of members of the EPA board of scientific counselors
13. The travel ban
14. Family separation policy
15. Hurricane response in Puerto Rico
16. Election security and hacking attempts
17. White House security clearances
18. Trump’s decision to initiate “Space Force”

As of September, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee had already blocked 64 subpoena requests submitted by Democrats. They now have the majority necessary to re-aim their efforts:

19. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services  20. Withholding Documents on Trump Administration Child Separation Policy 21. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Withholding Testimony on Census 2020 Citizenship Question
22. Department of Veterans Affairs Withholding Documents Relating to Reports that Mar-a-Lago Members Influencing Department Decisions
23. White House Withholding Report and Documents on Security Clearance Process Required by Law
24. White House Withholding Documents on Revocation of John Brennan Security Clearance
25. White House Withholding Documents on John Bolton Security Clearance
26. State Department Withholding Documents on Retaliation
27. Office of Personnel Management Refusing to Provide Briefing on Complying with Court Order
28. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid  29. Services Withholding Documents on Medicaid Work Requirements
30. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Withholding Documents on Scrubbing of Department Websites
31. State Department Withholding Documents on Decision to Close Cyber Office
Director of National Intelligence Testifying Before the Oversight Committee on the extent of the Russian Threat to Our Country and Our Elections.
32. Department of Justice Withholding Documents About Refusal to Defend the Affordable Care Act in Court
33. White House Withholding Documents on Contractor Wanted for Attempted Murder
34. State Department Withholding Documents on Political Loyalty Lists
35. Department of Health and Human Services Withholding Documents on Title X Family Planning Program Proposed Gag Rule
35. Environmental Protection Agency Withholding Documents on Freedom of Information Act
36. Steve Bannon Testifying Before the Oversight and Judiciary Committees About His Involvement with Law Enforcement Actions Before, During, and After the 2016 Election
37. Commerce Department and Census Bureau Withholding Documents on Citizenship Question
38. Department of Justice Withholding Documents on Request to Add Citizenship Question to Census
39. Department of Justice Withholding Documents on Politicized Hiring Allegations for Immigration Judges
40. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice Withholding Documents on Gag Order Against Whistleblowers
41. White House Withholding Information on Chartered Flights
42. White House Withholding Documents on Use of Private Email Accounts
43. Department of Justice Withholding Documents on Improper Attempt to Classify Dana Boente Notes
44. State Department and White House Withholding Documents and Testimony on “Cleaning” Out of Career Employees
45. White House Withholding Documents on Rejected Security Clearance Application for NSC Deputy Robin Townley
46. Department of Health and Human Services Withholding Documents on Effort to Strip Information from Women’s Health Website
47. John M. Gore, the Acting Head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Testifying About the Trump Administration’s Decision to Add a Citizenship Question to the 2020 Census.
48. White House Withholding Documents on Security Clearances
49. DHS Withholding Documents on Contract for Emergency Meals
50. White House Withholding Information on Deadly Niger Ambush
51. CBP Withholding Documents on Allegations of Sexual Assault by CBP Employees
52. Agencies Withholding Identities of Regulatory Reform Task Force Members
53. DOD Withholding Documents on Federal Response to Hurricanes
54. HHS Withholding Documents on Collaboration with Right-Wing Group to Rescind Medicaid Freedom-of-Choice Letter
55. DOI Withholding Documents on Reassignment of Employees
56. DOJ Withholding Documents on Communications with White House on AT&T Time-Warner Merger
57. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Withholding Response to Complaint
58. USDA Withholding Documents on Communications with Corporate Lobbyists
59. Trump Foundation Withholding Documents on Transfer of Assets to a Disqualified Person
60. Jared Kushner for Testimony at Emergency Hearing on Conflicts of Interest and Security Clearances
61. Trump Organization Withholding Documents on Foreign Payments
62. DHS Withholding Documents on Russian Attacks Against States Before Election
63. DHS Withholding Information from IG Report on Trump Muslim Ban
64. White House and HHS Withholding Documents on Biased Refugee Report
65. HHS Withholding Documents on Gag Order Against Whistleblowers
66. Kushner Withholding Emails That Violate Presidential Records Act
67. White House Withholding Documents on Security Clearance Suspensions
68. Transition Team and DOJ Withholding Flynn, Jr.’s Security Clearance Documents
69. White House Withholding Documents on Interim Security Clearances
70. Flynn and Business Partners Withholding Documents on Middle East Nuclear Deal
71. OMB Withholding Agency Downsizing Plans
72. FDIC Withholding Documents on EPA Senior Advisor Banned from Banking
73. White House Withholding Documents on Flynn’s Foreign Contacts
74. White House Withholding Documents on Personal Email Use by Top Aides
75. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Withholding Documents on Emails
76. White House Withholding Documents on Hurricane Response
77. Kushner Companies Withholding Documents on Alleged Housing Abuses

Other potential investigations:

78. Mueller investigation obstruction by prior House Intelligence leaders          79. Trump’s use of pardon power
 80. Construction changes to new FBI headquarters
 81. Trump’s involvement in hush payments to women alleging affairs
 82. The firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting AG
 83. The White House’s alleged stifling of the FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh
 84. The Interior Department’s decision to expand mining and drilling on federal lands
 85. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke alleged threats to Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) after voting against repealing Obamacare
 86. Zinke’s exempting of Florida from offshore drilling as a possible political favor to Governor Rick Scott (R)
 87. Zinke’s removal of references to humans’ role in climate change from agency reports. 
 88. Zinke’s alleged violations of the Hatch Act stemming from his appearance at a fundraiser while on an official trip
 89. The EPA’s siding with “special interests” on matters of public health
 90. Trump’s “politicization” of the military
 91. Lack of consistent policy for civilian casualties
 92. Profitability of the Trump International Hotel in Washington and whether it’s being used to violate the emoluments clause 
 93. Administration policies on domestic terrorism
 94. Relaxing of regulations for for-profit colleges and limiting of student loan forgiveness. 
 95. Department of Education’s rollback of Obama-era rules that expanded transgender students’ access to school facilities.