Sec. 101. Requiring ranked choice voting for election of Representatives
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Title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2001 ( 52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new subtitle: Each State shall carry out elections for the office of Representative in Congress using a system of ranked choice voting under which each voter shall rank the candidates for the office in the order of the voter’s preference, in accordance with the following: In any single-seat election, the State shall carry out the election using single-seat ranked choice voting as described in section 331.
In any multi-seat election, the State shall carry out the election using multi-seat ranked choice voting as described in section 332. Each State shall ensure that the ballot used in an election carried out using a system of ranked choice voting under this title meets each of the following requirements: The ballot shall be simple and easy to understand. The ballot shall include all qualified candidates for the election and (to the extent permitted under State law) options for voters to select write-in candidates.
If feasible, the ballot shall permit voters to rank every candidate in the election. If it is not feasible for the ballot to permit voters to rank every candidate, the State may limit the number of candidates who may be ranked on the ballot to not fewer than six. The ballot shall include such instructions as the State considers necessary to enable the voter to rank candidates and successfully cast the ballot under the system. In this title— the term single-seat election means any primary election in which exactly one candidate in the primary election will advance to the general election, any special election for exactly one seat, and any general election in which only one Representative is elected at large; and the term multi-seat election means any primary election in which more than one candidate in the primary election will advance to the general election, any special election for more than one seat, and any general election in which more than one Representative is elected at large or in a multi-member district.
In this subtitle, the term Representative includes a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress. This subtitle shall apply with respect to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the same manner as this subtitle applies to a State. Nothing in this title shall be construed to require a State to hold a primary election for the office of Representative in Congress prior to the date established under section 25 of the Revised Statutes of the United States ( 2 U.S.C. 7 ) for the regularly scheduled general election for such office, so long as the determination of the candidates who are elected to such office is based solely on the votes cast with respect to the election held on such date, as determined in accordance with the system of ranked choice voting under this title.
In the case of a single-seat election, the number of votes received by a candidate in either the initial tabulation or in an additional round of tabulation shall be equal to the number of ballots on which that candidate is the highest ranked continuing candidate. In the case of a single-seat election, a candidate shall be elected to the office of Representative in Congress (or, in the case of a primary election, shall advance to the general election for such office as provided under the law of the State involved) if— in the initial tabulation of ballots, the candidate receives a number of votes greater than 50 percent of the number of ballots cast in the election; or if the election official carries out an additional round of tabulation under subsection (b), the candidate receives the greatest number of votes of the 2 remaining continuing candidates (as described in such subsection).
If, under the initial tabulation of ballots, no candidate is elected to office (or, in the case of a primary election, no candidate advances to the general election for such office) under the criteria described in subsection (a)(2)(A), the election official shall carry out additional rounds of tabulation in accordance with paragraph
(2)until only two continuing candidates remain. In each additional round of tabulation carried out under this subsection— the candidate receiving the fewest number of votes among all candidates (or, in the case of a State which applies batch elimination under section 334, each candidate in the batch elimination group) shall be treated as a defeated candidate; for each ballot cast for a defeated candidate, the election official shall determine the highest-ranked candidate on the ballot who is a continuing candidate; and the vote cast on the ballot shall be transferred to, and added to the total number of votes received by, the highest-ranked continuing candidate determined under subparagraph (B). In the case of a multi-seat election, the votes shall be counted in a series of rounds of tabulation until the number of winning candidates equals the required number of winning candidates with respect to the election, as described in paragraph (4). In the case of a multi-seat election, a candidate shall be considered a winning candidate and shall be elected to one of the offices of Representative in the congressional district (or, in the case of a primary election, shall advance to the general election for such offices as provided under the law of State involved) if— in any round, the candidate has a vote total that exceeds the multi-seat election threshold, as determined under this section; or the candidate is a continuing candidate and the number of remaining continuing candidates plus the number of candidates already designated as winning candidates is equal to or less than the required number of winning candidates with respect to the election. The multi-seat election threshold with respect to an election shall be equal to the total number of valid votes cast in the election divided by the sum of the number one and the required number of winning candidates with respect to the election, rounded up to four decimal places. In the case of a multi-seat election, the votes shall be counted in a series of rounds, beginning with the initial round, under which each candidate has a number of votes equal to the number of votes cast in the election in which the candidate was the highest-ranked candidate, and proceeding as follows: If, following any round of counting, the number of winning and continuing candidates combined is greater than the required number of winning candidates with respect to the election, and at least one candidate has a vote total that exceeds the multi-seat election threshold, as determined under this section, then the following round shall be a surplus tabulation round. If, following any round of counting, the number of winning and continuing candidates combined is greater than the required number of winning candidates with respect to the election, and no candidate has a vote total that exceeds the multi-seat election threshold, as determined under this section, then the following round shall be a candidate elimination round. If, following any round of counting, the number of winning and continuing candidates combined is equal to or less than the required number of winning candidates with respect to the election, then the remaining continuing candidates shall be designated as winning candidates, and the tabulation is complete. In this section, a surplus tabulation round is a tabulation round under which each candidate with a vote total greater than the multi-seat election threshold is designated as a winning candidate and the surplus votes for such candidate are transferred to other candidates, as described in subsection (b)(2). In this section, a candidate elimination round is a tabulation round under which the candidate with the fewest votes is designated as defeated and votes for that candidate are transferred to other candidates, as described in subsection (b)(3). In a surplus tabulation round, each candidate with a vote total that exceeds the multi-seat election threshold shall be designated as a winning candidate, and the election official shall transfer the surplus votes for each such candidate to other candidates as follows: The official shall determine the surplus fraction for each candidate designated as a winning candidate at the beginning of the round by taking the difference between the candidate’s vote total at the beginning of the round and the multi-seat election threshold, and dividing that difference by the candidate’s vote total at the beginning of the round. The official shall reweight each vote counting for each candidate designated as a winning candidate at the beginning of the round by multiplying the vote’s current weight (equal to one if the vote has not been reweighted in any prior surplus tabulation round) by the surplus fraction determined with respect to the candidate under subparagraph (A), rounding down to four decimal places. The official shall transfer each vote counting for each candidate designated as a winning candidate at the beginning of the round to the highest ranked continuing candidate on the ballot on which the vote was cast, counting the vote as a fraction of a vote equal to its new weight as determined under subparagraph (B). For all subsequent surplus tabulation rounds, the official shall set the vote total of each candidate designated as a winning candidate at the beginning of the round to be equal to the multi-seat election threshold. In a candidate elimination round, the candidate with the fewest votes (or, in the case of a State which applies batch elimination under section 334, each candidate in the batch elimination group) shall be designated as defeated, and the election official shall transfer the votes for such candidate to other candidates as follows: The official shall transfer each vote counting for the candidate designated as defeated at the beginning of the round to the highest ranked continuing candidate on the ballot on which the vote was cast, except that if the vote was counted as a fraction of a vote due to being reweighted in a prior surplus transfer round, it shall continue to count as the same fraction of a vote in the subsequent candidate elimination round. For all subsequent candidate elimination rounds, the official shall set the vote total of each candidate designated as defeated at the beginning of the round to zero votes. In the initial tabulation of ballots under section 331 or the initial round of tabulation under section 332, if a vote is cast on an inactive ballot, no vote on the ballot shall be counted for any candidate. In any additional round of tabulation conducted with respect to a single-seat election under section 331(b), if a vote cast for a defeated candidate is cast on an inactive ballot, no vote on the ballot may be transferred to a continuing candidate under section 331(b). In any additional round of tabulation conducted with respect to a multi-seat election under section 332(b)— if a vote cast for the winning candidate is cast on an inactive ballot, no portion of the surplus vote on such ballot may be transferred to a continuing candidate under any surplus vote tabulation round described in paragraph
(2)of section 332(b); and if a vote cast for a defeated candidate is cast on an inactive ballot, the vote may not be transferred to any continuing candidate under any candidate elimination round described in paragraph
(3)of section 332(b). In this subsection, the term inactive ballot means— a ballot on which the voter does not rank any of the continuing candidates in order of preference; a ballot on which the voter ranked more than one continuing candidate at the highest order of preference; or a ballot on which the voter skips two or more consecutive numerical rankings prior to the ranking for the continuing candidate at the highest order of preference. At the option of the State, with respect to any candidate elimination round carried out under this subsection, a State may use batch elimination to treat multiple candidates as defeated candidates for purposes of section 331(b)(2) and section 332(b)(2). A continuing candidate is in the elimination batch if the number of winning and continuing candidates with more votes than that candidate is greater than the number of winning candidates required with respect to the election, and it is mathematically impossible for that candidate to be a winning candidate in the election for any of the following reasons: The candidate’s vote total in the initial tabulation of ballots plus all of the votes that could possibly be transferred to the candidate in the additional rounds of tabulation would not be enough to equal or surpass the continuing candidate with the next highest vote total in the initial tabulation of ballots. The candidate has a lower current vote total than a continuing candidate who is described by paragraph (1). If a tie occurs between candidates with the greatest number of votes or the fewest number of votes at any point in the tabulation of ballots under this part and the tabulation cannot proceed until the tie is resolved, the tie shall be resolved in accordance with State law. In this part, the term continuing candidate means, with respect to any round of tabulation under this part, a candidate who is neither a winning candidate nor a candidate who is treated as a defeated candidate under such subsection during the tabulation of ballots under that round of tabulation. Not later than June 1, 2021, the Commission shall make a payment to the State in an amount equal to— in the case of the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, $1,500,000; or in the case of any other State, the sum of $1,000,000 and the product of— the number of Representatives to which the State is entitled under the reapportionment of Representatives resulting from the regular decennial census conducted during 2020; and $500,000. A State shall use the payment made under subsection
(a)to implement ranked choice voting under this subtitle, including educating voters about ranked choice voting, and to otherwise carry out elections for Federal office in the State. The receipt or use of the payment made under this section shall not affect a State’s eligibility for or use of a requirements payment made under part 1 of subtitle D of title II. There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for payments under this section. . The table of contents of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the item relating to title III the following: Subtitle C—Ranked Choice Voting Part 1—Requiring Ranked Choice Voting for Election of Representatives Sec. 321. Requiring ranked choice voting for election of Representatives. Sec. 322. Application to District of Columbia and territories. Sec. 323. Treatment of States not holding primary elections prior to date of general election. Part 2—Tabulation Process Sec. 331. Tabulation for single-seat congressional elections. Sec. 332. Tabulation for multi-seat congressional elections. Sec. 333. Exclusion of inactive ballots. Sec. 334. Batch elimination. Sec. 335. Treatment of ties between candidates. Sec. 336. Continuing candidate defined. Part 3—Payments to States To Implement Ranked Choice Voting Sec. 341. Payments to States to implement ranked choice voting.
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