Testimony at Ranked Choice Voting hearing

Jeremiah Lowery, Chair of DC for Democracy testified at the hearing on the Voter Ownership, Integrity, Choice, and Equity Amendment Act of 2021” (VOICE Act) on November 18th, 2021 before the Committee on the Judiciary & Public Safety. Below is his testimony.

Chairman Allen, Councilmembers & staff, my name is Jeremiah Lowery, and I am the Chair of DC for Democracy. I am testifying today on behalf of our 700-plus voting members in favor of B24-0372, the “Voter Ownership, Integrity, Choice, and Equity Amendment Act of 2021”.

I would like to  state it clearly for the record: ranked choice voting is a racial justice issue. 

Throughout my years organizing in Washington, D.C., I have heard countless times from local political strategists that “this or that woman of color should drop out of the race for DC Council because there are too many on the ballot and they will split the vote between them” or “there are too many candidates voicing their support for marginalized residents of color in the DC Council race, one of them has to drop out or else the candidate that does not have the interests of marginalized residents of color in mind wins”.

Those scenarios are completely unacceptable but that all can change if Washington, DC adopts a ranked choice voting system. Through ranked choice voting, D.C. would have a system that can accommodate multiple candidates of a range of the same or different ideologies, and if the preference of the voters is to pick a candidate whose voice reflects the will of residents to uplift all residents then that would be reflected in the results. 

Ranked choice voting not only prevents pigeonholing of candidates when voting, it will also change how candidates campaign.

As the Chair of D.C for Democracy, I will often times have conversations with candidates and they will say something to the nature of “the other candidates in the race have the support of low-income black seniors, so I won’t focus on them because that’s not my base” or “that candidate has connections to public housing residents, so I will focus on the wealthier parts of the city to develop a base of support”. 

With ranked choice voting all voters will potentially become a part of a candidates base, and going forward it could be a strategic mistake to not campaign and cultivate the vote of marginalized residents in Washington, DC. 

If candidates campaign in a way that requires them to listen to a broad range of voices, that could potentially lead to more elected officials who seek to listen and develop policies where everyone’s needs are universally met and not a small segment of voting constituents. 

To restate these points concisely:

• Candidates of different backgrounds can feel comfortable running without the pressures of being pigeonholing and wondering whether they should drop out and end their participation in our electoral system to potentially prevent a split in the voter’s preference. 

• Candidates will work to hear from a border base of voters, resulting in public policies that reflect a constituency’s wants, needs, and expectations.

Ranked choice voting builds bridges 

Candidates’ lived experience is important and essential to connecting with voters’ and developing policies that uplift marginalized residents. However, oftentimes during campaign season, a candidates’ lived experience becomes a reason to personally attack them.

For example, if a candidate from a low-income or working-class background has broken the law due to the criminalization of poverty laws in America, but paid their debt to society and has worked to become a better person, our still current political atmosphere encourages other candidates to focus on and highlight that candidates’ past instead of focusing on policy agreements that end crimes of poverty of America. 

The other candidates are able to attack that candidate for their past mistakes because they feel like that candidates’ base of supporters aren’t needed to achieve an election victory. 

Ranked choice voting changes that. Ranked choice voting will lead to a system that focuses more on bridge building during election season instead of divisive bridge burning, which would create a more welcoming atmosphere for more candidates of different backgrounds who want to run for office. 

Black feminist and political activist, Frances M. Beale stated that “to live for the revolution means taking on the more difficult commitment of changing our day-to-day life patterns.”

If D.C. wants to develop into a place where everyone who lives here is able to thrive here, it must first transform our current voting system to make it more reflective of the voices of its residents. 

Let’s do the hard work of educating all residents about ranked voice voting (because investment in education is important) and let’s implement it soon after. And let’s do that hard work today.  Thank you.