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Is implementing RCV expensive?
No, a recent fiscal impact statement by the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission estimated that RCV would have a "minimal to moderate negative fiscal impact on county clerk’s offices."
Implementation of RCV will require some upfront investment, but the cost of operating elections should not be significantly affected.
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Will RCV hurt my party?
Rank Choice Voting will not create an unfair advantage or disadvantage for any particular party. RCV is supported by members from every political party.
RCV aims to change campaign behaviors, as it requires candidates to receive majority support. So the candidate who learns to appeal to the broadest range of people will receive greater support.
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Will RCV cause candidates to appeal to everyone's second choices, not really standing for anything?
Under RCV candidates must get enough first votes to stay in the race, therefore candidates must appeal deeply to constituents AND broadly.
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I've heard of many alternative voting methods, why RCV?
We believe RCV is the best alternative to our current system for a variety of reasons.
1. RCV complies with the majority criterion principle. Simply put if a candidate wins a majority (>50%) of first votes they should win the election.
2. RCV complies with the Later-no Harm principle. This means under RCV voting for more candidates won't harm the chances of winning for your more-preferred candidate. This removes the possibility of tactical voting that complicates the process for the voter. In fact, RCV is even less complicated than our current plurality system (first past the post) because right now you have to decide who the most viable candidate is that you like to vote for.
3. RCV elects the Condorcet winner in almost every election. This means the candidate would win if they faced off head to head with each candidate individually.
4. RCV is easily adopted in both single-winner and multi-winner elections.
5. RCV is easy to understand, not extremely costly to implement, would revamp our democracy, and has the most movement behind it currently.
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How does RCV affect voter turnout?
Studies have shown after implementing Rank Choice Voting voter participation has either remained the same or increased. In Minneapolis, voter turnout increased as much as 10% (Fairvote). In our opinion, voter participation will increase the longer RCV is implemented because people will steadily regain confidence in the voting system. Cities with RCV already have higher voter turnout compared to cities without it.
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