Ranked choice voting ban would be a slap in the face to Oklahoma military members | Opinion

Our military members make giant sacrifices in defense of our most American right — the right to vote. Yet for active-duty service members and their families, exercising that right themselves can be a nightmare.

There’s a helpful tool that makes it easier for military voters to make their voices heard. It’s called ranked choice voting (RCV), or instant runoff voting, and it’s made the process easier for tens of thousands of military voters across the six Southern states where it’s used.

Now, Oklahoma politicians are trying to put an end to ranked choice voting. The state Legislature is considering passing House Bill 3156 to ban ranked choice voting from being used in any way in the Sooner State. This doesn’t make a lot of sense. Right now, no jurisdiction in Oklahoma has even tried to adopt ranked choice voting. Banning it outright, however, would be a slap in the face to those Oklahoma service members and their families who just want to be certain that their vote in a runoff election arrives on time.

As a veteran who served eight years in the U.S. Navy, I’ve heard countless stories from fellow service members about how hard it can be to cast a vote while deployed. When serving overseas, military members must learn their states’ absentee voting rules, print and submit paperwork, and then cross their fingers that there are no lengthy delays with mail delivery on either end. During a runoff, overseas military voters have to do this twice

Only 47% of military members cast a ballot in 2020, compared to 74% of civilians. It’s not for lack of trying — 21% of eligible members reported they wanted to vote, but couldn’t complete the voting process. With about 1.4 million active-duty service members, that’s roughly 300,000 of our bravest Americans boxed out of an essential freedom.

In runoff elections, like the ones we have so often here, we double the risk of military voters’ ballots not being counted by asking them to run the bureaucratic gauntlet twice in a matter of weeks.

That’s a very short timeframe to print new ballots, get them to military voters, and get them back for counting. In 2020, 43% of military voters who couldn’t complete the voting process said it’s because they never received absentee ballots they requested.

More: What is ranked-choice voting? Here's which states will use it on 2024 ballots.

Six other Southern states solved this issue with ranked choice voting. For over a decade, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Louisiana have sent overseas military voters a ranked choice voting ballot, asking the voter to rank the candidates first, second, third and so on. If a runoff occurs, their vote goes to whichever remaining candidate they ranked highest.

It’s a simple solution, and not just for military voters. Ranked choice voting would be a faster, cheaper, better alternative to runoff elections, which can cost millions of tax dollars and still result in an average 35% turnout decline in Oklahoma. With ranked choice voting, voters make it clear who they prefer if their first choice can’t win; there’s no need to call them back to the polls. Ranked choice voting can also encourage more civility in campaigns.

Nevertheless, no one is talking about ranked choice voting for everyone in Oklahoma. Which is why there’s no reason to completely ban it.

Oklahoma should instead follow the example of other Southern states that have used ranked choice voting to empower patriotic Americans to fully participate in our democracy. Service members and their families give up so much. The last thing they should have to sacrifice is their right to vote.

Jeff DeGarmo is an eight-year U.S. Navy veteran, Oklahoma native and founding board member of Veterans for All Voters, a nonpartisan organization of military veterans advocating for election innovation.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ranked choice voting is helpful for Oklahoma military members overseas