Photo Credit: Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash

The DC Board of Elections has certified Initiative 83 for the November ballot, which would open primary elections to independent voters and requires ranked choice voting to be used in all District elections.

Washington Post journalist Meagan Flynn was the first to report the news over X (formally Twitter):

Initiative 83, also known as “The Ranked Choice Voting and Open The Primary Elections to Independent Voters Act of 2024,” calls for a semi-open primary for the District of Columbia.

This means that registered party members have to vote in their respective party's primary while the roughly 73,000 independent voters in the city can choose either party's ballot.

Currently, these voters are barred from the most consequential elections in DC -- despite paying for them with their tax dollars. 

If Initiative 83 passes, it would also mean all District elections will use ranked choice voting, giving voters the option to rank candidates in order of preference while ensuring that no candidate wins with less than a majority vote.

The Yes on 83 campaign submitted more than 40,000 signatures to get its initiative on the ballot. Lisa D.T. Rice, a Ward 7 advisory neighborhood commissioner who proposed the reforms, said:

"We want full democracy here in D.C. We need ranked choice voting to make politicians accountable to us — and the 73,000 people who have been disenfranchised from voting.”