The Republican and Democrat clubs in Palm Desert will host a meeting for residents on Tuesday to discuss the ranked-choice voting system now active in the city.
“Both the Republican Club and Democrat Club have invited all residents of Palm Desert Green Country Club to attend this meeting,” Ruth Hill, secretary of the Palm Desert Republican Club, said in an interview. Extending this invitation is a departure from the customary practice of each club inviting members to its meetings, she said. The meeting will run from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the country club.
The featured speaker will be City Clerk Anthony Mejia, who will address how Palm Desert came to have ranked-choice voting and how the system works. Residents will have the opportunity to ask questions about the system.
Under the rank-choice voting system, voters must rank candidates for a given office from top choice to the last choice, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The votes initially are tallied based on the first choice on every ballot. If no single candidate wins a majority in the first round, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated, and another round of tallying begins. Eventually, one candidate gains a majority and is declared the winner. The end result can be compared to traditional runoff elections, except it requires one voter trip to the polls.
According to Hill, ranked-choice voting is only in effect in Palm Desert's local and council elections.
Much controversy surrounds the rank-choice method because a voter’s ballot might end up being cast for their second, third, or even fourth choice, according to The Washington Times. The chosen candidate might be someone they would never have supported otherwise. Some say it rigs the voting system and allows candidates with marginal support to win elections.