Establishes a system of ranked choice voting whenever a municipality's charter amendment is approved by its voters.

Rhode Island Ranked Choice Voting Bill: Plain-English Summary

This bill would allow cities and towns in Rhode Island to adopt a voting method called ranked choice voting (RCV) for their local elections. Under ranked choice voting, instead of simply picking one candidate, voters rank candidates in order of preference — first choice, second choice, third choice, and so on. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and those voters' second choices are counted instead. This process continues until one candidate earns a majority. Importantly, this bill would only allow RCV at the local level — a city or town could only use it if its residents first vote to change their local charter (the city or town's governing document) to allow it.

This bill primarily affects local voters and municipal governments across Rhode Island. No city or town would be required to switch to ranked choice voting — it would only happen if residents in that community specifically approved a charter amendment to do so. This makes it an opt-in system driven by local voter decisions rather than a statewide mandate.

Currently, the bill has been referred to the House State Government & Elections Committee, where it has been recommended to be "held for further study," meaning lawmakers are not yet ready to move it forward. It is scheduled for a hearing in March 2026. No changes to voting have taken effect yet, and the bill remains in its early stages.