MONTGOMERY — Members of a Senate committee voted last week to advance a bill banning ranked-choice voting in Alabama.
Ranked-choice voting allows electors to rank candidates in order of preference and tabulates ballots cast in multiple rounds following the elimination of a candidate until a single candidate attains a majority.
The bill would prohibit the use of any ranked-choice voting method in elections except for electors who vote by absentee ballot pursuant to the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
"We're making sure it doesn't come here," State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), the bill's sponsor, said at a Senate County and Municipal Government meeting last week.
Florida, Tennessee, South Dakota, Montana and Idaho have statewide bans on the voting method.
Opponents of ranked-choice say the process is complex and confusing for voters. Supporters of the method say it saves money because it does away with the need for runoffs and discourages negative campaigning.
The method is used at the local level in parts of Alabama.
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