Regular Session 2021-2022 House Bill 1772 P.N. 2009

PRIOR PASSAGE - NONE

PRINTER'S NO. 2009

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

No.

1772

Session of

2021

INTRODUCED BY RABB, LEE, SCHLOSSBERG, SOLOMON, WEBSTER AND

KINKEAD, AUGUST 9, 2021

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, AUGUST 9, 2021

A JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing integrated amendments to the Constitution of the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, further providing for duties of

Governor, election procedure, tie or contest, for Lieutenant

Governor and for election and registration laws and providing

for ranked-choice voting.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby resolves as follows:

Section 1. The following integrated amendments to the

Constitution of Pennsylvania are proposed in accordance with

Article XI:

(1) That section 2 of Article IV be amended to read:

§ 2. Duties of Governor; election procedure; tie or contest.

The supreme executive power shall be vested in the Governor,

who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; he

shall be chosen on the day of the general election, by the

qualified electors of the Commonwealth, at the places where they

shall vote for Representatives, through the process of ranked-

choice voting as defined in section 15 of Article VII. The

returns of every election for Governor shall be sealed up and

transmitted to the seat of government, directed to the President

of the Senate, who shall open and publish them in the presence

of the members of both Houses of the General Assembly. [The

person having the highest number of votes shall be Governor, but

if two or more be equal and highest in votes, one of them shall

be chosen Governor by the joint vote of the members of both

Houses. Contested elections shall be determined by a committee,

to be selected from both Houses of the General Assembly, and

formed and regulated in such manner as shall be directed by

law.]

(2) That section 4 of Article IV be amended to read:

§ 4. Lieutenant Governor.

A Lieutenant Governor shall be chosen jointly with the

Governor [by the casting by each voter of a single vote

applicable to both offices], for the same term, and subject to

the same provisions as the Governor; he shall be President of

the Senate. As such, he may vote in case of a tie on any

question except the final passage of a bill or joint resolution,

the adoption of a conference report or the concurrence in

amendments made by the House of Representatives.

(3) That section 6 of Article VII be amended to read:

§ 6. Election and registration laws.

All laws regulating the holding of elections by the citizens,

or for the registration of electors, shall be uniform throughout

the State, except as provided in section 15 of this article and

except that laws regulating and requiring the registration of

electors may be enacted to apply to cities only, provided that

such laws be uniform for cities of the same class, and except

further, that the General Assembly shall by general law, permit

the use of voting machines, or other mechanical devices for

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registering or recording and computing the vote, at all

elections or primaries, in any county, city, borough,

incorporated town or township of the Commonwealth, at the option

of the electors of such county, city, borough, incorporated town

or township, without being obliged to require the use of such

voting machines or mechanical devices in any other county, city,

borough, incorporated town or township, under such regulations

with reference thereto as the General Assembly may from time to

time prescribe. The General Assembly may, from time to time,

prescribe the number and duties of election officers in any

political subdivision of the Commonwealth in which voting

machines or other mechanical devices authorized by this section

may be used.

(4) That Article VII be amended by adding a section to read:

§ 15. Ranked-choice voting.

(a) Contests for all elected offices in the Commonwealth

shall be conducted by ranked-choice voting with the following

exceptions:

(1) President of the United States.

(2) Vice President of the United States.

(3) Any judicial office in this Commonwealth, as specified

under Article V, except for judges of the courts of common pleas

and magisterial district judges.

(b) The following shall apply to a ranked-choice voting

ballot:

(1) In a contest conducted by ranked-choice voting with

three or more qualified candidates, including qualified write-

ins, the ballot shall allow voters to rank candidates in order

of choice.

(2) If feasible, the ballot shall allow voters to rank as

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many choices as there are qualified candidates. If the voting

equipment cannot feasibly accommodate a number of rankings on

the ballot equal to the number of qualified candidates, the

ballot may limit the number of choices a voter may rank to the

maximum number allowed by the equipment, but the ballot must

allow the voter to rank at least six choices.

(3) The ballot shall not interfere with a voter's ability to

rank a write-in candidate.

tabulation:

(1) With respect to single-winner tabulation, in a contest

for exactly one office conducted by ranked-choice voting,

tabulation shall proceed in rounds. Each round shall proceed

sequentially with each ballot counting as one vote for the

highest-ranked continuing candidate on that ballot. The

following shall apply:

(i) If two or fewer continuing candidates remain, the

candidate with the fewest votes shall be defeated, the candidate

with the greatest number of votes shall be elected and

tabulation shall be complete.

(ii) If more than two continuing candidates remain, the

continuing candidate with the fewest votes shall be defeated,

and a new round shall begin in accordance with subparagraph (i).

(2) With respect to multiwinner tabulation, in a contest for

more than one office conducted by ranked-choice voting,

tabulation shall proceed in rounds. If, in the initial

tabulation, the number of continuing candidates is less than or

equal to the number of offices to be elected, all continuing

candidates shall be elected and tabulation shall be complete.

Otherwise, each round shall proceed sequentially until

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tabulation shall be complete. The following shall apply:

(i) Each ballot shall count, at its current transfer value,

for the highest-ranked continuing candidate on that ballot. If

the sum of the number of elected candidates and the number of

continuing candidates is equal to the sum of one and the number

of offices to be elected, the candidate with the fewest votes

shall be defeated, all other continuing candidates shall be

elected and tabulation shall be complete.

(ii) If at least one continuing candidate has more votes

than the election threshold for the contest, each candidate

shall be elected. Each ballot counting for an elected candidate

shall be assigned a new transfer value by multiplying the

ballot's current transfer value by the surplus fraction for the

elected candidate, rounded down to four decimal places and

ignoring any remainder. Each candidate elected under this

subsection shall be deemed to have a number of votes equal to

the election threshold for the contest in all future rounds. A

new round shall begin in accordance with subparagraph (i).

(iii) If no candidate is elected under subparagraph (ii),

the continuing candidate with the fewest votes shall be

defeated, and a new round shall begin under subparagraph (i).

(d) With respect to inactive ballots, in a round of

tabulation in a contest conducted by ranked-choice voting, a

ballot that does not contain a highest-ranked continuing

candidate shall not count for a candidate. Instead, the ballot

shall be counted as an over-vote, abstention or exhausted

ballot.

(e) In a contest conducted by ranked-choice voting, the

secretary may modify the tabulation to include batch

elimination. If the tabulation includes batch elimination, any

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time that the continuing candidate with the fewest votes would

be defeated, each continuing candidate in the elimination batch

shall be simultaneously defeated instead. A continuing candidate

shall be in the elimination batch if the number of elected and

continuing candidates with more votes than that candidate is

greater than the number of offices to be elected and it is

mathematically impossible for that candidate to be elected for

any of the following reasons:

(1) The candidate has fewer votes than any other continuing

candidate.

(2) The candidate could never win because the candidate's

current vote total plus all votes that could possibly be

transferred to the candidate in future rounds would not be

enough to equal or surpass the continuing candidate with the

next highest current vote total.

(3) The candidate has a lower current vote total than a

continuing candidate who is described under paragraph (2).

(4) The candidate could never win because the number of

ballots with any highest-ranked continuing candidate, on which

that candidate is ranked at any ranking order, is smaller than

the following:

(i) For contests for exactly one office, the current vote

total of the continuing candidate with the greatest number of

votes.

(ii) For contests for more than one office, the current vote

total of any of the top "x" continuing candidates with the

highest current vote totals, where "x" is the number of offices

to be elected.

(f) If two or more candidates are tied with the fewest

votes, and tabulation cannot continue until the candidate with

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the fewest votes is defeated, the candidate to be defeated shall

be determined by lot. Election officials may resolve prospective

ties between candidates prior to tabulation after all votes are

cast.

(g) The secretary may make any changes to the ranked-choice

voting ballot and tabulation process necessary to preserve the

secrecy of the ballot and ensure the integrity and smooth

functioning of the election, provided that ranked-choice voting

shall still be used with the smallest number of changes made to

achieve that purpose.

(h) Election boards with mechanical, electronic or other

devices for sorting and counting ballots and tabulating results

shall implement the provisions of this section immediately.

Election boards may modify the form of ballots and the method of

sorting, counting and invalidating ballots and the tabulating

and recounting of votes with respect to offices elected by

ranked-choice voting, provided that any modification made

substantially conforms to the requirements under the election

laws of this Commonwealth.

(i) The following words and phrases when used in this

section shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection

unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Abstention." A ballot that does not contain a highest-

ranked continuing candidate and either more than one ranking

order contains the same candidate or one or more ranking orders

did not contain any candidate.

"Continuing candidate." A candidate that has not been

defeated or elected.

"Election board." The election officers required to conduct

general, municipal, special and primary elections in an election

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district in accordance with the election laws of this

Commonwealth.

"Election district." A district, division or precinct

established in accordance with the election laws of this

Commonwealth, within which all qualified electors vote at one

polling place.

"Election threshold." The number of votes sufficient for a

candidate to be elected in a multiwinner contest. The election

threshold shall be calculated by dividing the total number of

votes counting for continuing candidates in the first round by

the sum of one plus the number of offices to be filled, rounding

up to four decimal places.

"Exhausted ballot." A ballot that does not contain a

highest-ranked continuing candidate and is not an abstention or

an over-vote.

"Highest-ranked continuing candidate." The candidate

assigned to the highest-ranking order that:

(1) is not a skipped ranking;

(2) does not follow two or more consecutive skipped

rankings;

(3) does not contain an elected or defeated candidate;

(4) does not contain more than one candidate; or

(5) does not follow a ranking order that contains more than

one candidate.

"Inactive ballots." All ballots that do not contain a

highest-ranked continuing candidate, including abstentions,

over-votes and exhausted ballots.

"Over-vote." A ballot that does not contain a highest-ranked

continuing candidate because the highest-ranking order that is

neither a skipped ranking nor contains an elected or defeated

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candidate contains more than one candidate or follows a ranking

order that contains more than one candidate.

"Ranking order." The number available to be assigned by a

voter to a candidate to express the voter's choice for that

candidate. The number "1" is the highest-ranking order, followed

by "2" and then "3" and so on.

"Round." An instance of the sequence of voting tabulation

delineated under subsection (c).

"Secretary." The Secretary of the Commonwealth.

"Skipped ranking." An instance where a voter has left a

ranking order unassigned but ranks a candidate at a subsequent

ranking order.

"Surplus fraction." A number equal to the quotient of the

difference between an elected candidate's vote total and the

election threshold, divided by the candidate's vote total,

rounded down to four decimal places, ignoring any remainder.

"Transfer value." The proportion of a vote that a ballot

will contribute to its highest-ranked continuing candidate. Each

ballot shall begin with a transfer value of "1." If a ballot

contributes to the election of a candidate under subsection (c)

(2)(ii), it shall receive a new transfer value.

Section 2. (a) Upon the first passage by the General

Assembly of these proposed constitutional amendments, the

Secretary of the Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to

comply with the advertising requirements of section 1 of Article

XI of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the

required advertisements to two newspapers in every county in

which such newspapers are published in sufficient time after

passage of these proposed constitutional amendments.

(b) Upon the second passage by the General Assembly of these

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proposed constitutional amendments, the Secretary of the

Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to comply with the

advertising requirements of section 1 of Article XI of the

Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the required

advertisements to two newspapers in every county in which such

newspapers are published in sufficient time after passage of

these proposed constitutional amendments. The Secretary of the

Commonwealth shall submit the proposed constitutional amendments

under section 1 of this resolution to the qualified electors of

this Commonwealth as a single ballot question at the first

primary, general or municipal election which meets the

requirements of and is in conformance with section 1 of Article

XI of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and which occurs at least

three months after the proposed constitutional amendments are

passed by the General Assembly.

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