The Ohio statehouse
with its incumbent super-majority
just passed an
anti-democratic bill.
SB63 would prohibit cities and townships the right to use Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) to elect local officials. Emphasis on the word right because Ohio is a home rule state, meaning municipalities have the constitutional authority to govern their own local affairs.
SB63 presents a paradox. The bill seeks to "prohibit" RCV but then punish any locality that ignores the prohibition. If the state truly had the power to prohibit RCV or any other local right, then punishment would be a non-issue.
Maybe the punishment is the point. SB63 says any locality that implements RCV would lose their Local Government Funding and the money would be diverted to... you guessed it, the state budget.