Ranked Choice Voting Troops Land in Michigan – BIG TIME!
- Mar 31
- 7 min read
Updated: Apr 3
Alaska RCV activist moves in to kick things off
By Kristine Christlieb, MFEI News & Commentary Editor
Monday, March 31, 2025
Michigan activists are ramping up their plans for another election-related ballot proposal. In 2026, they seek to put a state Constitutional amendment on the ballot to allow for ranked choice voting (RCV).
“So-called election ‘reformers’ have used state constitutional amendments twice — in 2018 with the passage of Proposals 2 and 3 and in 2022’s passage of Proposal 2 in 2022 — to bypass the state legislature’s federally mandated authority to determine election laws. They want to upend how Michigan conducts its elections. Now here they come with yet another constitutional amendment, this time to bring in ranked choice voting,” said Patrice Johnson, Founder and Chair of Michigan Fair Elections Institute.
Only two states — Maine and Alaska — apply RCV to statewide elections. After Maine’s system went live in 2018, Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, wrote, “Let me confess: I work on democracy reform and constitutional law every day. I’ve always had a hard time fully understanding ranked choice voting, let alone being able to explain it.”
RCV’s complexity is one of the biggest hurdles proponents will have to overcome. In theory, RCV allows voters to rank their candidate preferences. Instead of voting for just one candidate, voters would be ranking their preference for multiple candidates. Their first choice could lose but their second choice might win. Voting continues through multiple rounds until one candidate achieves 50% or more of the cast ballots.
RCV in other states – how it's going
So far, voters aren’t buying the idea. Thirteen states have now banned ranked choice voting. In November 2024, voters in four other states rejected ballot proposals and other initiatives that would have allowed some form of ranked choice voting.
Also in November, an initiative to repeal RCV was on the ballot in Alaska. Even after RCV supporters spent more than $12 million to beat back the repeal effort (vs. RCV repeal supporters spending $120,000), the repeal measure almost passed, but it left the state deeply divided over the controversial method of voting.
Despite this spate of setbacks in both red and blue states, ranked choice voting activists believe they can be successful in Michigan.
Pat Zabawa, Rank MI Vote’s (RMV) associate director, told Bridge Michigan, “Through ranked choice voting, we’re hoping to empower voters and give them the ability to have better candidates, more options, their voice to be heard, and have policies that reflect them.”
His optimism may be buoyed by the five Michigan municipalities — Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Ferndale, Kalamazoo, and Royal Oak — that have already adopted ranked choice voting for local elections. So far, however, state constitutional barriers are preventing these municipalities from fully implementing RCV. The proposed 2026 ballot amendment would dissolve the barriers.
Potential Legal Barriers
According to Bridge Michigan, RCV staff and volunteers have been mapping out their plans since late 2024. At the end of January, the news outlet published the following Rank MI Vote (RMV) screen shot.
RMV’s planning document reveals the group already is behind schedule on its next major hurdle — getting approval for the precise ballot language from the Michigan Board of State Canvassers (BOSC).
In a recent letter to BOSC, Michigan Fair Elections Institute put the four-member state oversight board on notice there could be problems if they were to approve putting an RCV amendment on the ballot. In a March 17 email to Chairman Richard Houskamp and his Board, Johnson wrote: “It is imperative that the Board of State Canvassers (BOSC) take into account the legal and constitutional constraints surrounding ballot initiatives that affect elections, especially given ongoing litigation and federal constitutional requirements.”
The ”ongoing litigation” to which Johnson referred is Lindsey v Whitmer, a case currently under examination for potential review by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). Eleven Michigan legislators are challenging both 2018 Proposals 2 and 3 and 2022 Proposal 2, claiming the amendments passed by a ballot initiative usurped the federally mandated authority of state legislatures to govern the time and manner of elections.
In her email, Johnson warned, “Any election law changes, particularly those affecting federal elections, must first be approved by the state legislature before being presented to voters via ballot initiatives. To bypass this process would violate both the U.S. and Michigan Constitutions.”
Johnson cited the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause, which specifically prescribes lawmaking authority over federal elections to elected state legislatures:
“The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof;” (Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1).
Busy Schedule of Activities
By late February, volunteers were hitting the streets with the RCV message. An MLive headline describes a February 22 event held in Ann Arbor, “Ranked-choice voting group lays out plan for Michigan ballot initiative at anti-Trump rally.”
According to a participant in an early March RCV internet-based training session, the group was fairly small, about 10 or so people. The participant reported volunteers as stating, “If there had been ranked choice voting, Trump would never have been elected in 2016.”
Throughout the month of March, new volunteer training sessions were scheduled every week at different locations across the state.
Alaska RCV veteran and major donor takes the lead
At least some of the training sessions are being led by a former Alaska resident who moved to Michigan in 2023.
According to a volunteer who wished to remain anonymous, the training on Thursday, February 27 was led by Doug Robbins, a retired Marathon Oil petroleum exploration geologist formerly based in Alaska.
Robbins and wife Wendy Woodworth Robbins moved from Alaska to the Gull Lake area of Michigan, where Woodworth Robbins’ family has had past associations.
The volunteer said Robbins told the group he had been an early proponent of ranked choice voting when he lived in Alaska. While his RCV leadership in Alaska could not be confirmed, his leadership in Michigan is a matter of public record. His 2024 contribution of $100,103.45 to Rank MI Vote Ballot Question Committee makes him the PAC’s single largest donor.
Since their return to Michigan, the Robbins couple has been spreading their wealth and gaining more influence. In a January 28 donor recognition article, Michigan State University’s W. K. Kellogg Biological Station announced the couple made a “generous gift” to its $4.2 million Kellogg Bird Sanctuary renovation campaign.
When contacted by phone and email to confirm details of his involvement with Rank MI Vote, Robbins refused comment.
The RCV volunteer said Robbins told the group, “A lot of political operatives are going to need to be funded to get this passed.”
It’s unclear whether the sizable amount of funding RCV would need to pass in Michigan is available.
“Some of the non-profit organizations most involved in funding election reform initiatives are under close government and donor scrutiny,” Johnson explained. “It’s possible some of those funding sources have dried up, making the possibility of RCV success in Michigan more remote.” Allegations indicate a primary donor platform, ActBlue, has gone dormant after a Congressional investigation last October indicated it may have been accepting foreign and tax-payer-funded monies. What is Going on with ActBlue?
Click here for more information about ranked choice voting from the Election Integrity Network.
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