A legislative effort is underway to ban two voting systems – ranked choice and approval voting. The Missouri House has given preliminary approval to a proposal that would ask voters to bar the systems that allow voters to choose more than one candidate running for office, with the candidate getting the most votes ultimately winning.
State Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, is the sponsor of the proposed ballot measure.
“Our system of voting that people are very familiar with, one vote for one person, is something that if we were to try to change that, I think it can cause voter exhaustion, cause confusion by changing the system. The ballots are confusing. It also sets up the system, because of the multiple elections really, where it takes a lot longer to do tabulate and to count the ballots,” said Baker.
State Rep. Robert Sauls, D-Kansas City, is against the proposed ban.
“The reason I support ranked choice voting is I believe it forces more moderates, which I think is good,” said Sauls.
St. Louis uses an approval voting system. There might be other Missouri cities who use similar systems.
One more vote of support would send House Joint Resolution 66 to the Senate for another look at the plan.
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