Nine Democrats on the Board of Supervisors hold the votes to change how Fairfax County elects them, and state law does not require a public referendum. The decision belongs to “a majority vote of the local governing body.” That is the Board of Supervisors. Nine of its ten members are Democrats, and every one of their seats is on the ballot in 2027.
It could happen fast. Sally Hudson, who runs the advocacy group Ranked Choice Virginia, told FFXnow that all the law requires is an ordinance “at least 90 days prior to an election.” The statute adds a few steps: the Board consults the local electoral board and registrar, sends its decision to the State Board for a technical-feasibility assessment, and uses approved tabulation software. None of them is a vote of the public. A majority of the Board is the only approval the law asks for, and the ballot you have used your whole life could work differently.
On Sept. 29, an Annandale student stood up at the Board meeting and told supervisors a switch is “a very realistic goal.” He asked for a public feasibility study. Board Chairman Jeff McKay (D) thanked him. FFXnow reports McKay gave no sign of any follow-up.
The idea has been circling, though. Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn (D) held a May town hall in Reston on it, and it drew mostly supporters. Hudson says her group has talked with individual supervisors. She also says Fairfax has not asked its elections director for a formal readiness assessment at a public meeting, the step Arlington took first. Meanwhile the clock is running: petitions open in January, and primaries come in June.
Nobody has said the Board will do it. But the people who would decide are the people whose jobs depend on the rules. State law also says a locality that goes this way must use tabulating software approved by the State Board. In the Committee’s view, that alone is a reason to slow down. A rule change that close to the starting gun is how mistakes get made.
The pitch is simple. Ranked choice, supporters say, makes sure the winner has a majority. Ask Maine about that.
In 2018, Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin led the first round of counting in Maine’s 2nd District by 2,171 votes. Nobody had a majority, so the ranked-choice count kicked in. Democrat Jared Golden won after the redistribution. Count every ballot cast, and the final tally was Golden 49.2%, Poliquin 48.0%, with 2.8% exhausted. Golden’s “majority” was a majority of the ballots still in the count.
Poliquin sued and lost on the merits. He became the first incumbent to lose that district since 1916. Here is the part that matters for Fairfax. A voter who ranks only one candidate, and whose pick is eliminated, has no say in the last round. That is not a small thing.
Arlington shows the same effect closer to home. In its 2023 County Board primary, a candidate leading after the first round was leapfrogged by another as others were eliminated, FFXnow reports. The same story says public reaction in Arlington has been mixed: one survey found no clear consensus, and a second showed a majority in favor of the switch. Fair enough. Arlington voters may well like it. But Hudson says Arlington started with a formal readiness assessment at a public meeting, and Fairfax has not taken that step.
They did. The state party used ranked ballots at its 2021 convention, and Glenn Youngkin passed 50% in the sixth and final round. That was a party choosing how to pick its own nominee, which is its own business. In the Committee’s view, a county board choosing how every voter in Fairfax casts a ballot is a different thing, and it deserves a different bar. Voters should get a say.
All ten seats are on the ballot in November 2027. Nobody has to wait that long to speak up. The student who started this did it from the podium at a public Board meeting. So can you. The Board should hear from voters before it hears only from advocates.