More than two dozen election integrity activists and groups are calling on Indiana state lawmakers to prohibit the use of “disastrous” ranked-choice voting in elections. A bill to do so now heads to the state Senate after passing out of committee Monday morning.
“There’s been a decade-long push by the left to replace traditional American elections with ranked-choice voting. The bad news is that open socialists are running and winning in ranked-choice voting havens like Maine and New York City,” Emma Garelick, visiting fellow at Foundation for Government Accountability Action, told The Federalist. “The good news is that 17 states around the country have banned ranked-choice voting from ruining their elections, and Indiana is poised to be the 18th.”
In their Monday letter to the Republican chairs of the House and Senate election committees, election integrity activists urged the passage of SB 12, which stipulates that an Indiana election “may not be determined by ranked choice voting,” and “candidate[s] may not be nominated for or elected to an office by means of ranked choice voting.” Among the signatories are Garelick, Election Integrity Network Founder and Chair Cleta Mitchell, Stop RCV Project Manager Harry Roth, Election Transparency Initiative Chair Ken Cuccinelli, and others.
SB 12 was heard before the Senate Elections Committee on Monday morning. In a statement to The Federalist, Committee Chair Mike Gaskill said he is “happy to be an author of SB 12 to prohibit the use of ranked choice voting in Indiana” and revealed that the committee successfully advanced the bill to the full Senate in a 7-2 vote.
Under RCV, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter’s second-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.
As noted in Monday’s letter, RCV has produced repeated disasters in jurisdictions it’s been tried, such as causing confusion among voters, “exhausted” or thrown out ballots, and delayed election results. The system has largely been pushed by Democrats and has led to Democrat victories in races for which Republican candidates ultimately received the majority vote.
The aforementioned election integrity activists noted that with congressional Democrats “failing to pass their sweeping election reforms and several states such as Indiana passing strong election integrity reforms, this is the next avenue forward for the Left: an intentionally chaotic, unreliable method of voting.”
“Proponents of ranked-choice voting across the country are looking for weak points in state law to push ranked-choice voting,” the letter reads. “In recent years, efforts to bring ranked-choice voting to Indiana have increased, as we’ve seen leftist groups like ‘Fair Vote’ and ‘RCV Research Center’ publish op-eds and readiness assessments on bringing ranked-choice voting to Indiana. We encourage you to not give them any opportunity in the great Hoosier state.”
The letter’s authors argued that the “best and easiest way” for Indiana to prevent RCV from corrupting their elections is to “ban it explicitly” by passing SB 12. They additionally noted that the “intent of existing statutes should prevent ranked-choice voting, but one cannot rely on common sense being all that common when motivated, agenda-peddling leftist groups are involved.”
“They will find a way in,” they added.
In addition to Gaskill, SB 12’s sponsors include Senate Majority Leader Chris Garten. The leading Republican touted his support for prohibiting RCV last month, writing on X, “It’s time for Indiana to join 17 other states to ban ranked choice voting (RCV) statewide. Where it’s been used, RCV has been a disaster with trashed ballots, delayed results, and diminished voter confidence. Let’s get it done!”
Meanwhile, RCV proponents have suffered major setbacks in recent years in their efforts to expand the system across the country. The vast majority of pro-RCV ballot initiatives proposed during the 2024 elections, for example, were resoundingly defeated by voters — even those in blue states like Oregon and Colorado.
A spokesman for House Elections and Apportionment Committee Chair Tim Wesco acknowledged receipt of The Federalist’s request for comment, but Wesco did not provide a response by deadline.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
