Board of Aldermen: Pass Ranked Choice Now!

City of Frederick Board of Aldermen


We need your help to make our elections better! We’re asking the Frederick City Board of Aldermen to adopt Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) for our local elections. By signing this petition, you are taking a stand for a more democratic and effective voting system. Here’s why your signature matters:

  1. Empower Voter Choice: Ranked Choice Voting empowers you to rank candidates in order of preference, making your vote more meaningful and reflective of your true choices.

  2. Promote Positive Campaigning: RCV encourages candidates to engage in more positive and issue-focused campaigning, as they seek to earn not just your first-choice vote but also your second and third choices.

  3. Achieve True Majority Support: With RCV, elected officials must secure a majority of the votes, ensuring they have broad support from the community. This leads to more legitimate and widely accepted outcomes.

  4. Reduce Wasted Votes: Your vote will always count. If your top choice is not elected, your vote is transferred to your next preferred candidate, reducing the frustration of feeling like your vote didn’t matter.

  5. Enhance Civic Engagement: Implementing RCV can increase voter turnout by making elections more engaging and competitive, leading to a more vibrant and participatory democracy.

Call to Action:

We need your support to bring Ranked Choice Voting to Frederick City. Your signature on this petition is a powerful statement that you care about the future of our local democracy. Join your neighbors in calling for a fairer and more representative voting system.

Sign the Petition Today:

Add your name to the growing list of Frederick City residents who support Ranked Choice Voting. Let’s work together to make our elections more democratic and ensure every vote counts.

To: City of Frederick Board of Aldermen
From: [Your Name]

We, the undersigned residents and voters of Frederick City, respectfully petition the Frederick City Board of Aldermen to adopt Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), also known as Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) for single-winner elections and Single Transferable Vote (STV) for races with multiple winners, for our local elections.

Reasons for Supporting Ranked Choice Voting:

Greater Voter Choice: RCV allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, ensuring that if their first-choice candidate does not win, their vote can still count towards their subsequent choices. This system provides a more accurate reflection of voter preferences.

Reduces Negative Campaigning: Since candidates aim to be the second or third choice of their opponents' supporters, RCV encourages more civil and issue-focused campaigns, fostering a healthier political environment.

Prevents Vote Splitting: RCV eliminates the risk of vote splitting among similar candidates, ensuring that a candidate with broad support can win without the interference of a spoiler effect.

Ensures Majority Support: RCV ensures that elected officials have majority support. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed until a candidate with majority support is determined.

We believe that adopting Ranked Choice Voting will lead to a more democratic, inclusive, and efficient electoral process in Frederick City. Additionally, we encourage the Board of Aldermen to consider ways to ensure maximum voter choice when voting in the general election. Some options to do so include eliminating primary elections or allowing any candidate that meets a minimum threshold of votes in the primary to progress. These measures would further enhance voter engagement and representation in our local democracy.