For several years I have served as the ballot officer in my local precinct, handing out and tracking the paper ballots and dealing with any questions from voters about how to mark them. Every year a fair number spoil their ballots by either using an X or a circle rather than filling in the bubble, or by marking a name they didn’t intend. It is safe to predict with this method that 1) there will be far more spoiled ballots and 2) voters will be standing longer in the booth to fill them out, adding to the lines. 

But in researching this column and looking at the rules Virginia has already created as Arlington County moved into this brave new world, another of my major concerns is allayed. The State Board of Elections has even posted an instructional video. The election officers at the end of election day will only report the first-round result. If a candidate has achieved a majority, that is the end of it. If not, they don’t keep counting.

If a candidate has not achieved a majority after the absentees and provisional ballots are reviewed, that is when the second (or third or fourth) round counts proceed. That post-election process becomes far more important.

But the idea of many elections (perhaps most) would now spark a full recount process, such as the Fifth Congressional District primary just went through, raises its own issues. Cost will be high on the list. The long delays in knowing who won will also frustrate people. Some advocates claim a computer ballot box can do all the counts at once, but those who already doubt the security of the counting machines will double down on their conspiracy theories. 

The most recent Democratic primary in Arlington County took four rounds of counting to reach a result. 

Some complain that the ranked choice voting process will favor one party over the other, but that is not apparent. Using the excuse of COVID, Virginia’s Democrats enacted a host of voting changes that many Republicans opposed. But more and more Republicans are beginning to just take advantage of those rules to seek to boost turnout of their own voters. 

Once political tacticians begin to grasp the ranked voting process, there likely will be changes. More candidates who fail to get the party nomination will still put their names on the ballot. People may be recruited to join the ballot to boost and broaden that party’s turnout. Then as the lesser candidates fall off in subsequent rounds, their second-round votes may shift to the dominant candidate. 

People will begin to consciously campaign to be that second choice and, behind the scenes, a bit of deal making is easy to predict. Will that lead to more civil discourse in elections? One can dream. 

One major concern raised by the Foundation for Government Accountability rings true. For an individual’s ballot to be counted in all subsequent rounds, they must rank all the candidates. Otherwise, their vote could drop off, becomes an “exhausted ballot.” But why would you mark your ballot for somebody you truly oppose? 

Is it the case that the final “50 percent plus one” that finally wins does not include the many exhausted ballots, perhaps hundreds of thousands of them in a statewide election? In that case, Virginia could be back where it began, allowing a plurality of cast votes to prevail. 

Steve Haner is a Senior Fellow for Environment and Energy Policy. He can be reached at Steve@thomasjeffersoninst.org.