Safeguarding D.C. Voters’ Adoption of Ranked Choice Voting and Semi-Open Primaries (Wilson et al. v. District of Columbia Board of Elections and Rice et al.)

In June of 2023, District of Columbia voters proposed an initiative to introduce ranked choice voting in all D.C. elections and to allow independent voters not registered with any political party to vote in D.C. primary elections, which they were previously not able to do. 

Proponents of Initiative 83 sought to implement these pro-voter reforms through a citizen-led ballot initiative in order to put the power to decide whether these reforms would advance democracy directly in the hands of the people of D.C.

D.C. voters overwhelmingly voted for Initiative 83 in the November 2024 election: 73% voted to approve the initiative with large majorities of support in every ward in the District. Now, CLC is stepping in to defend the voices of those D.C. voters who have worked to propose and successfully adopt Initiative 83’s democratic reforms through the ballot initiative process.

Initiative 83 ends the disenfranchisement in the District of Columbia’s primary elections of nearly 75,000 independent D.C. voters. Research demonstrates that primaries open to independent voters promote greater voter participation; have higher voter turnout rates; result in more representative and accountable officeholders; and eliminate barriers to voting for certain voters who disproportionately register as independents, including Hispanic voters, young voters and veterans.

Initiative 83 also introduces ranked choice voting, which will allow voters to rank up to five candidates according to their preferences in each District election (other than for political party offices).  

In a ranked choice election, a candidate with a majority (50%+) of first-choice rankings wins. But if no candidate wins such a majority, then an “instant runoff” occurs: The candidate who received the fewest first-choice preferences is eliminated, and voters who ranked the now-eliminated candidate first have their ballots added to the totals of their next-choice candidate. This process repeats until one candidate receives a majority of the votes and is declared the winner.  

Research shows that ranked choice voting has several beneficial effects for democracy, including requiring candidates to represent a majority of voters; discouraging negative campaign tactics, which may in turn, decrease political polarization; ensuring fair representation for underrepresented groups; and allowing voters to more fully express their political preferences. Experience also proves that voters who use ranked choice voting understand it, are satisfied with it, and have confidence in its results.

In August of 2023, the D.C. Democratic Party, the Chair of the Party, and an individual voter filed a lawsuit alleging that Initiative 83 was unlawful. Although the case was dismissed at first for being untimely, the D.C. Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision and sent the case back down to the trial court for further proceedings on the merits of the case.  

To defend Initiative 83’s pro-voter policies, CLC has filed a motion to intervene and a motion to dismiss the underlying complaint, on behalf of Lisa D. T. Rice, a D.C. independent voter who proposed Initiative 83, and Grow Democracy D.C., a nonpartisan nonprofit advocating for the implementation and funding of Initiative 83 by the D.C. Council.  

Initiative 83 meets all of the requirements for a citizen-led ballot initiative, and its pro-democracy reforms are legal under both D.C. and federal law.  

We are asking the Superior Court to safeguard voters’ ability to create meaningful pro-democracy change in Washington, D.C. and uphold Initiative 83.