By Bob Katzen

The Elections Laws Committee held a hearing on legislation that would allow any city or town to adopt and implement ranked choice voting for local elections just by approving a local bylaw to do so — without having to go through the current process which requires a city or town to first pass a local home rule petition and then requires approval by the Legislature.

Under current law, any municipality seeking to adopt ranked choice voting for local elections must go through this lengthy and uncertain process. The bill will empower communities to adopt ranked choice voting without having to do so.

Ranked choice voting is a system under which voters rank one or more candidates in order of preference. If one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the first-place votes, that candidate would be declared the winner and no other rounds would be necessary. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the candidate that receives the least number of first-choice votes is eliminated. The second choice of the voters who supported the eliminated candidate now becomes their first choice and is added to the totals of the remaining candidates. The same process is repeated, if necessary, until a candidate is the first choice of a majority of voters.

“Ranked choice voting empowers voters and enhances ballot access, improving representative democracy,” said sponsor Sen. Becca Rausch (D-Needham). “It supports positive campaigns and bolsters voters’ confidence in our electoral system. Massachusetts voters understand and support ranked choice voting, especially for their local elections. I’m proud to sponsor the bill to clear the red tape preventing municipalities from implementing the election system that voters want for their communities.”