Posted on 06/07/2026 7:30:38 AM PDT by Twotone
In the November 2024 election, an overwhelming majority of voters in Washington, D.C. voted to pass Initiative 83 (I-83), which introduced ranked choice voting and semi-open primaries for elections in the District of Columbia.
Campaign Legal Center, on behalf of our clients who proposed and supported I-83, has successfully defended the will of the voters in court against baseless claims that I-83 is unlawful. Ranked choice voting (also known as RCV) will be used for the first time in the District's history in primary and special elections this month.
What is Initiative 83?
Spearheaded by Campaign Legal Center’s clients in this case — Lisa D. T. Rice, a D.C. independent voter, and Grow Democracy D.C. — I-83 introduced ranked choice voting in all Washington, D.C. elections. This measure also would allow independent voters not registered with any political party to vote in D.C. primary elections — something they were not previously allowed to do.
Proponents of I-83 sought to enact these pro-voter reforms into law through a citizen-led ballot initiative. Nearly three-quarters of D.C. residents voted for I-83 in the November 2024 election.
Even though D.C. residents overwhelmingly voted to pass this ballot initiative, its legitimacy was challenged in court.
In August 2023, the D.C. Democratic Party and the Chair of the Party filed a lawsuit alleging that I-83 is unlawful. Campaign Legal Center later intervened in the case on behalf of our clients, arguing that I-83 met every requirement for a citizen-led ballot initiative, and its pro-democracy reforms are legal under both D.C. and federal law.
While the case was ongoing, the D.C. Council voted to fully fund the ranked choice voting provisions of I-83, ensuring that ranked choice voting would be used in D.C. elections beginning with the June 2026 primary and special elections.
In June 2026, the court ruled that I-83 does not violate District or federal law and the Board of Elections correctly placed it on the ballot, rejecting all the plaintiffs’ challenges to the initiative as baseless.
This is a victory for District residents.
With ranked choice voting now fully implemented in the District, voters have a more meaningful way to express their candidate preferences and make their voices heard, putting the power to advance democracy directly in the hands of the people of Washington, D.C.
Implementation of the semi-open primary provisions remains contingent upon funding by the D.C. Council.
Campaign Legal Center is proud to have defended this important initiative, and we’ll continue our work in protecting voters everywhere. Join us today in our efforts to strengthen our democracy.
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Jim
Doesn’t really matter, a Republican will never win D.C. Its just a matter of selecting between a Marxist, Lennonist, or Stalinist.
Rigged Choice Voting
Let’s use proper terminology, please.
no one should be allowed to live in DC in my opinion. It should be government buildings only.
RCV is stupid. It will take them a month to ‘calculate’ who won..................
Ranked Choice Voting Is a Bad Choice
BTW, a question...
Why do states that don't have RCV use RCV-enabled electronic voting machines...?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I agree. Any residential area should be carved out & moved to the nearest state. Or eminent domain used to take the property & remove the housing.
One more reason not to allow them a voye in congresd
Why would a policy that is intentionally devised to keep republicans and conservatives from being elected be considered a positive reform by anyone but a leftist??
They also want a new state so they can redesign the flag, and not just put another star on it.
Agreed. They really messed it up back in 1801. DC should be a small federal district, composed only of government buildings, monuments, and museums.
Too late now, I guess.
More likely the boundaries will remain. And eventually DC will be given voting members in both Houses of Congress.
Republicans don’t like to radically change things. But Democrats sure do.
I assume Dominion would be one of them?
We’re working as hard as we can to get rid of them here in GA, but the Dems and the GOPEs seem to like them for some reason . . .
What makes you think anyone who was Republican or conservative applauded this?
What do you mean? DC *is* a small federal district. What it was established as and what it has become are two different things.
Ranked Choice Voting The Scam
Sickening.
“Victory”? I don’t think they know the definition.... 😵
What a disaster.
It’s gotta be bad if even the dumblecrats filed suit to stop it.
RCV doesn’t seem to actually work anywhere.
> What do you mean? <
I mean that DC should have been a *really* small federal district. If you’re going to carve out a separate capital, make it a true government district only.
No residential buildings allowed. No citizens who get tossed into a weird semi-citizen status. That doesn’t even make sense.
What it was established as and what it has become are two different things.
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