Because New Jersey’s election laws don’t currently give local leaders the choice to use Ranked-Choice Voting (read more on that here), our local organizing work fulfills two strategic aims: 

1. To build a broad base of support by the public and local elected officials in order to sway state leaders to pass legislation that enables RCV to be used at the local level 
2. To lay the foundation for passage and use of RCV in each town’s local elections 

For the latter, we are focused on passing “trigger” ordinances through town councils that would put RCV on the ballot for voters to decide in the next election. But that ballot question will only be posed to voters after the state passes legislation to enable localities to choose RCV — so the town councils can make the decision now to give voters an opportunity to approve RCV, and the enactment of the ordinance is triggered by the passage of legislation that legally empowers the decision. (Sending an RCV question to the ballot before enabling legislation is passed would not be legally valid.) 

We are working with citizens in towns across the state to organize their communities and local officials around Ranked-Choice Voting.