Charleston is first to seek instant-runoff voting
By Skyler Baldwin
Statehouse Report
Statewide advocacy groups are lauding a coming proposal by Charleston leaders who are asking the state legislature to allow municipalities to use instant-runoff voting, also known as ranked-choice voting, in future local elections.

The Statehouse Report

Statewide advocacy groups are lauding a coming proposal by Charleston leaders who are asking the state legislature to allow municipalities to use instant-runoff voting, also known as ranked-choice voting, in future local elections. “Ranked-choice voting has the opportunity to move people to the middle and create a sense of camaraderie in our elections where we want to move toward solutions instead of creating more bitterness,” added Leslie Skardon, director of national issues for the League of Women Voters of South Carolina.

The independence of the judiciary so that it can provide checks and balances to the other branches of government is fundamental to the integrity and health of our system of government and to the confidence of the public in that system. We believe that Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC) process should be amended: (1) to preclude legislative membership, and (2) to raise the cap on the number of qualified applicants’ names submitted to the General Assembly. In addition, the qualifications to serve as magistrate should be more rigorous and judicial budgets should be protected from being singled out for reduction.

This story was originally published in Mississippi Today.

A coalition of civic and legal organizations on Thursday called for the Hinds County Election Commission to provide clear answers to voters on why numerous voting precincts in the state’s most populous county ran out of ballots during the Nov. 7 election. 

The group, which includes organizations like Mississippi Votes and the League of Women Voters, told the media that some of the consortium’s representatives have attempted to schedule a meeting with the election commissioners, but the county rejected that request.