A total of 31 lawmakers in Massachusetts are co-sponsoring H. 2897, which would allow towns, municipalities, and cities to use ranked choice voting for their local elections. Originally sponsored by Representative Mike Connolly, H. 2897 also specifies certain requirements for ranked choice voting ballots, establishes ranked choice voting election procedures, and gives local governments the option to return to their prior voting method after using ranked choice voting for four years.
During the 1940s, the Massachusetts legislature passed a state law that allowed Cambridge to adopt ranked choice voting, where it is still used today to elect members of the city council and school board. H. 2897 essentially gives every city, town, and municipality in Massachusetts the same opportunity that Cambridge had in the 1940s to adopt ranked choice voting for their local elections.
Massachusetts is just one of the 19 states that is currently considering ranked choice voting legislation this year. H. 2897 is the 52nd piece of ranked choice voting legislation introduced in Massachusetts since 2001 and represents a milestone as the most sponsored of those bills. H. 2897 has been referred to the Joint Committee on Election Laws where it awaits further consideration.
Editor's note: This update originally published on FairVote's website. Learn more about FairVote here.