Shawn Griffiths
RICHMOND, Va. - A bill that expands ranked choice voting in Virginia has passed the state House of Delegates not long after it was referred out of committee. If signed into law, the bill will allow cities and counties to adopt the reform for all elections.
Current law for ranked choice voting in Virginia allows local governments to implement ranked choice voting only for city council and county board elections. It is currently used in Charlottesville and Arlington County for these elections.
Charlottesville used ranked choice voting for the first time in 2025, and an exit survey showed 80% of respondents expressed strong support for its continued use.
Arlington County, the first jurisdiction in Virginia to use ranked choice voting, continues to support its use, and other areas – like Newport News and Loudoun County – have signaled they are looking into the reform as well.
But all of these places are limited on adoption and use of it.
Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones said he supports ranked choice voting, noting in a 2024 op-ed that "Richmond, Roanoke, Winchester, and Virginia Beach all elected mayors [...] in wide-field races with a winner who earned less than half the votes."
This couldn't happen under ranked choice voting since the reform requires a majority winner.
Most jurisdictions that use ranked choice voting in the U.S. use the instant runoff method. Voters rank candidates in order of preference. If a candidate gets a majority of first-choice selections, they win the election outright.
If no one gets a majority, one or more runoff rounds kick in that eliminate the last place candidate and apply their voters’ next selection to the tabulation. Subsequent runoff rounds are held as needed until a single candidate has a majority of the vote.
This isn’t the only way to conduct ranked choice voting elections, but regardless of what method is used, advocates say it allows greater voter expression, more choice, elevates competition, and incentivizes civility on the campaign trail.
And this is where HB630 – which just passed the Virginia House of Delegates in a 62-34 vote – comes into play.
The bill, introduced by Delegate Katrina Callsen, authorizes a permanent option for ranked choice voting expansion. This means cities and counties can implement the reform for any and/or all of their elections, including mayoral elections.
So, what happens now?
The House of Delegates and Senate send over completed bills during what is called “Crossover" on Wednesday. HB630 and its Senate twin, SB176, will go through the committee process in the opposite chamber.