April 10, 2023
Promote less negative campaigns and functioning government
Sign to Support
The SC Small Business Chamber is supporting House Bill 4022, a bi-partisan bill that will give municipalities another option for conducing elections that will save them (meaning you the taxpayer) money. The SC Municipal Association is also supporting the bill.
House Bill 4022 would add a fourth method, Instant Runoff Voting (also called Ranked Choice Voting) for municipalities to use for nominating candidates and determining the results of nonpartisan elections. Cities across the U.S. are already using this election method successfully.
Instant Runoff Voting has several benefits over traditional elections:
–It eliminates the need to hold runoff elections when no candidate receives a majority of votes. (Runoff elections can cost up to $25,000.)
–It eliminates the need for voters to return to the polls. (Runoffs result in fewer people voting to elect a candidate who will represent all the people).
–Candidates are incentivized to focus on issues instead of attacking opponents. (Candidates want to be the second choice of voters who don’t rank them as their first preference).
–Reduces polarization in elected bodies resulting in well-functioning government.
Instant Runoff Voting does all of the above by having voters rank their preferences for all the candidates on the ballot.
Watch this 1 ½ minute video to see how it works.
The benefits of Instant Runoff Voting (Ranked Choice Voting) for businesses are many.
Businesses thrive when candidates:
- Focus on problem-solving instead of negative attacks.
- Listen to diverse opinions to find common ground instead of catering to a small, vocal base.
- Compete to responsibly serve the interests of all their constituents.
- Win single-office elections with a majority of votes, thus more accurately reflecting the will of the voters.
Businesses thrive under more democratic election systems that:
- Reduce polarization and foster a stable policy-making environment in legislative bodies.
- Encourage higher voter turnout and greater engagement.
- Give voters more candidate options and a healthy marketplace of competing ideas.
- Allow voters to clearly and fully express their preferences on all candidates, resulting in consensus elected officials.
- Save taxpayer dollars by eliminating wasteful runoffs.
- Consistently deliver the most fair and accurate representation of all voters as possible.
If you agree that Instant Runoff Voting (Ranked Choice Voting) is a better, more democratic election method, sign our petition.