An Iowa legislator delivers her stance when it comes to rank-choice voting within the state.

Senate Republicans recently voted 34-13 to pass Senate File 459 that would ban ranked-choice voting in the state of Iowa. District 14 Senator Sarah Trone-Garriott tells Raccoon Valley Radio that this move really frustrated her as she filed a bill earlier this legislative session to allow local communities to use ranked-choice voting. She believes it serves a great tool when dealing with multiple candidates. Trone-Garriott explains the way the current election system is set up doesn’t really give people many options, as she elaborates why it would be beneficial to have ranked-choice voting.

“The great thing is that they really do have choices. You get to rank your choices, so if there’s more than one candidate you like, you can indicate that, and then if nobody gets the majority of the vote, then it kind of shifts the vote to the next candidate to show who do the people really want.”

Trone-Garriott points out that in the 62 jurisdictions where ranked-choice voting has been adopted, the research shows that people are receptive to it given the higher level of engagement. The bill is now at the Iowa House under consideration.