Proponents of changing Arlington County Board general elections from winner-take-all to ranked-choice will have to wait another month for action.
Owing to a procedural hiccup, initial plans to place the matter on the County Board’s January agenda had to be pushed back to February.
County Board Chairman Libby Garvey took the fall, saying a change in state law related to legal advertising meant the measure was not ready in time to meet the new 14-day deadline.
“I thought I had plenty of time,” Garvey told the GazetteLeader, but that turned out not to be the case.
Garvey on Jan. 2 had told supporters of switching to ranked-choice voting for County Board general elections she planned to bring the matter up at the Jan. 20 meeting. She told the GazetteLeader that she was “personally embarrassed” by the delay.
“I fully intended to do it,” Garvey said of holding a hearing and acting on the proposal in January.
County Board members, include two lame-duck members, in December voted to use ranked-choice voting for all future County Board primary elections, but at that time did not extend the change to general elections. A delay from January to February in considering that extension will still leave plenty of time to implement ranked-choice voting in November.
County Board members in late 2022 approved changing the voting method of the June 2023 County Board primary to ranked-choice. But after complaints about voter confusion, the body opted to stay with the traditional winner-take-all format in November 2023.
State law gives localities the ability to use the ranked-choice process for governing-body elections, but no others. Some lawmakers are attempting to extend the ranked-choice option for other offices.
