MONTCLAIR - On Tuesday, Sep. 24th the Montclair Township Council voted to support a resolution supporting Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV). They resolved that they support RCV in the State and in the township, to further education of the public about RCV, and to call on the State Legislature to advance a RCV bill in the state. Montclair joined the growing number of municipalities in New Jersey that are seeking to empower their residents through ranked-choice voting. Hoboken, Jersey City, Red Bank, Princeton, Maplewood, and South Orange have passed local RCV measures for municipal and school board elections.

Ranked-choice voting is a voting process which allows voters to rank multiple candidates on their ballot in order of preference, and requires that a winning candidate receive support from a majority of voters. If no candidate gets a majority of votes, the one with the lowest number of votes gets disqualified and anyone that voted for that candidate has their vote transferred to their second choice. This continues until someone has a majority vote.  RCV is used across the globe, has been adopted statewide in Maine and Alaska, and is used in New York City and cities across the country. Supporters tout RCV as a way to ensure voters’ opinions are more accurately reflected by election results, as well as to address issues of political polarization, “strategic voting” and the “spoiler effect” that frustrate voters and candidates alike every election cycle. RCV encourages more people to run for office, often results in more minority candidates winning, and eliminates the need for expensive run-off elections.

“I see our Council’s action this week not only as a little nudge to Trenton to give municipalities like Montclair the freedom to adopt Ranked Choice Voting, but as the first step in educating our Township’s voters about RCV. As momentum builds statewide behind S1622/A4042, I will be working with other advocates to build local awareness about RCV, by highlighting the concrete, common sense benefits it offers, especially to diverse communities like ours.” — Montclair Township Councilor Erik D’Amato

RCV has also received support from several local groups — Montclair Township Councilor-at-Large Carmel Loughman, who is a member of the LWV, said — "I'm a member of the League of Women Voters. The League of Women Voters strongly supports ranked-choice voting, and we'll be working to educate people on the topic as it presents itself."

 “I am glad that Montclair passed this resolution, and hope our legislators in Trenton recognize the broad support for electoral reform at the grassroots level and will speedily pass the ‘Municipal and School Board Voting Options Act,’ sponsored by Senator Zwicker.” — Voter Choice NJ Volunteer and Montclair Resident Michael Zimbalist