(Fargo, ND) — The head of the Honest Elections Project is backing the move by North Dakota lawmakers, who’ve passed a bill that bans approval voting and ranked choice voting.
“Both approval voting and ranked choice voting are election reforms that are being pushed across the country that act in ways that are often counter to election integrity and public confidence in the election,” said Executive Director Jason Snead.
Snead is commenting, after the state senate last week passed HB 1273 with enough votes to prevent a potential veto by Governor Doug Burgum.
“They (ranked choice voting and approval voting) change the system itself in ways that makes voting more difficult, more complex. It makes voting harder and potentially leads to delays in election results, all of which can harm voter confidence in the outcome of elections,” said Snead.
Mayor Tim Mahoney testified before lawmakers in opposition to the bill, because Fargo voters voted to adopt approval voting in 2018.
Mahoney has not responded to requests for comment
Snead commented on political groups behind efforts aimed at promoting ranked choice voting and approval voting in an increasing number of cities and states around the country.
“One of the biggest proponents nationally is a group called ‘Fair Vote’. They’re a non-profit which is dedicated to a couple of different election reforms including ranked choice voting. They’re funded by a number of names that would be household names to a lot of people, like George Soros and his foundations,” said Snead.
