As seen in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Commentary: How to give Richmond the mayor we deserve

Coming hot off of a very competitive Democratic primary for lieutenant governor where multiple candidates split the field and the winner secured just 27.5% of the vote, it’s hard not to wonder: What kind of mandate is that? No shade to state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, but technically, most Democratic primary voters didn’t vote for her. She won by a plurality, not a majority.

And here in Richmond, we’ve seen this same flaw play out — again and again.

In the past three mayoral elections, not a single winning candidate broke the 50% mark. In fact, out of six direct mayoral elections since Richmond adopted the system in 2003, only two winners have claimed an actual majority. That means four mayoral terms — 16 years — of leadership without a true majority of city voters behind it. Technically speaking, our election system does provide for a runoff if a candidate fails to secure the most votes in at least five of the city’s nine council districts. However, this has yet to happen.

In 2016, Mayor Levar Stoney won with just 35.6% of the vote — the lowest vote share for any winning candidate in Richmond’s history. And if you recall, there wasn’t exactly a groundswell of excitement for the candidate. Stoney’s win came largely as a strategic block against the surging Joe Morrissey, who, despite having been convicted for delinquency of a minor, had been leading in the polls by a plurality.

The consequences of that flawed system have added up. Historical polling on mayoral approval in Richmond is thin — this isn’t exactly a city covered wall-to-wall by national media — but you don’t need bar graphs to feel the public’s exhaustion.

Former Mayor L. Douglas Wilder left after one term. The Rev. Dwight Jones exited amid controversy over failed redevelopment and generous severance packages for departing appointees. Former Mayor Stoney pushed two casino referendums that voters soundly rejected, failed to get traction on the billion-dollar Navy Hill project and was narrowly defeated in the same lieutenant governor primary I mentioned earlier — annihilated by abysmal margins in his own city.

Meanwhile, Richmond continues to struggle with crumbling roads, a cost-of-living crisis, a brittle school system and infrastructure issues that seem permanently unresolved. Now, I’m not suggesting a mayor elected by majority approval would magically solve all of that. But I am saying that when our leaders govern without broad support, the disconnect between residents and city government only deepens. And that’s something we can fix — starting with how we elect our leaders.

That’s where approval voting comes in.

The problem with our current plurality voting system is that you can only vote for one candidate — even if there are several you like. This leads to vote-splitting, where similar candidates divide the vote and someone with a narrow but committed base walks away with the win.

Approval voting solves this. It’s simple: you vote for as many candidates as you approve of. If you like three, vote for three. If only one, vote for one. The candidate with the most votes garnering majority approval across the city wins. That’s it. No spoiler candidates. No bringing voters back to the ballot box for a runoff with even lower turnout.

It’s easy to understand, requires no new equipment, and produces same-day results — unlike ranked choice voting (RCV), which, while well-intentioned, can be confusing, expensive to implement and slow to tabulate. Approval voting prevents vote-splitting just the same, but without the complexity or cost.

But most importantly, approval voting encourages consensus. Candidates can’t win by appealing to just one slice of the electorate. They have to build coalitions across neighborhoods and communities — across Richmond. They have to earn not just passionate support, but broad agreement. It ultimately solves the sectional problem that the “5 out of 9 districts” rule attempts to remedy.

That’s the kind of leadership this city — and this commonwealth — deserves.

It’s time to rethink how we vote. Approval voting gives us a clear, practical path to more representative, responsive and trusted elections. Let’s bring it to Richmond — and show the rest of Virginia that smarter, fairer elections are well within reach.

Full article:

https://richmond.com/opinion/column/article_56c7a59a-05d2-44dc-acc2-fc716064a577.html