DC 2026 MAYORAL FORUM ON AGING LIVESTREAM

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]chance to just make sure everyone is heard. So, again, I'm Sam Bonner.

[00:00:04]Last Last election, there was an initiative called Initiative 83, which passed with 73% of the vote by the voters, which said we should [singing and music] use ranked-choice voting, should change our voting system.

[00:00:19]The DC Council last year funded that, and now we're going to use it for the first time in DC. It's been used in lots of other places, so it is a proven system.

[00:00:29]Now, a lot of misinformation a lot of people made it a little more confusing than it really is, all right?

[00:00:35]So, the basics that we want everyone to listen up and hear the real simple basic explanation. This is the voter-centered explanation.

[00:00:43]So, how it works is you can vote for your favorite choice first, so you put them in the first column.

[00:00:49]And if you'd like, you can rank your backup choices, second, third, up to fifth.

[00:00:56]You do not have to rank. You can only put one choice if you if that's what you'd like.

[00:01:02]And you should only really vote rank someone if you at least could live with them, if you're if you're okay with them, right? And [laughter] you can put them at the end. If you really don't like someone, don't rank them at all.

[00:01:13]Your vote stays with your first choice.

[00:01:16]So, your vote is going to stay with your first choice.

[00:01:19]If they are in last place, so if your first choice loses, your vote will automatically go to your next choice.

[00:01:27]And that process will repeat until someone wins with over 50%. So, that's the core, right? That That is the full explanation from the voters' perspective, right? Obviously, I could explain it how the Board of Elections Council votes, but I think what really makes it clear is vote your favorite, rank your backups, your vote stays with your first choice, and if they are if they lose, your vote automatically goes to your next one.

[00:01:54]The winner needs to to over 50%. That's the basics of it. That is the whole reason it comes into play.

[00:02:00]So, that's the full explanation. The two things to keep in mind are don't put more than one bubble in each column, and don't put more than one bubble in each row.

[00:02:13]That's it.

[00:02:14]So, when you're filling out your ballot, you really just need to put your favorite in your first column, which is the closest to the names of all the candidates, and then if you'd like you can put your backup choices second, third, whatever in the later columns.

[00:02:27]Only one in each column, and only one in each row.

[00:02:31]So, I think I've explained it fully, um but I know there's probably a few questions.

[00:02:38]So, anyone have any questions that they'd like me to answer?

[00:02:41]Yes, ma'am.

[00:02:42]Hold on, let me give you the mic.

[00:02:50]>> When you said that only one in each column, but if you have a second choice, isn't there a bubble next to their name in the same left-most column close to the name?

[00:03:05]Where is >> Great question. So, let me give you one of these so you can see the visual of it. When I'm done with that, I'll ask when I have a few more. But essentially, for each each column is your there's your first choice column, and then there's your second choice column, and then there's your third choice column.

[00:03:22]Right? So, you should only put one in each column, and then if you have a second choice, a backup choice, you can put that in the second column.

[00:03:32]Any other questions?

[00:03:37]>> Is there a pathway second choice?

[00:03:38]>> No pathway. Well, there's something that it kind of looks like a pathway, right?

[00:03:42]It looks kind of like a scan path, but you got to look at the gray.

[00:03:45]Um I have a few more I'm going to leave up front, or actually I'll leave them out back, um so that if people want to take them, I'll leave them on the table outside. Um but yeah, I I appreciate you all listening. I'm glad it was clear enough. I'm surprised there aren't more questions.

[00:04:01]Um I do have to leave soon, that's why I wanted to share now. Um but if you want you can go to uh rankthedistrict.org uh to learn more or you can go to the DCBOE.org, which is the Board of Elections website.

[00:04:15]They also have a ranked choice voting section. I really like our explanation because I think it's very voter-centered. It's trying to keep it as simple as possible. Um so yeah, uh appreciate you. Oh, yes, what's your question?

[00:04:29]>> What if you go in there and you can't place your whole vote for any of them? What happens? I know sometimes they don't spell it out. Can you get help if you don't?

[00:04:40]>> Um I can't speak for the Board of Elections. My sense is that if you ask for assistance and you want uh you know, if you have a question about how the ballot works, I believe someone at the Board of Elections can at least explain to you. I don't know if they're allowed to vote with you.

[00:04:54]>> They're not voting with you.

[00:04:55]>> But you usually can bring a friend in and you can vote together.

[00:05:00]Um so that that's if you want someone to be there with you, I think that should [laughter] be fine.

[00:05:04]Um but I would recommend you call the Board of Elections to make sure of that.

[00:05:07]I'm not 100% positive.

[00:05:10]All right, well, I hope the mayor will be happy. Great, one more.

[00:05:16]>> If the ranked choice voting will take place for all of our citizens >> Great question. So, pretty much the question is is ranked choice voting going to be relevant for all the races across the your ballot?

[00:05:31]The answer is mostly but no. The all of the city elections, so all of the government officials that are running in the primary, those are ranked choice voting.

[00:05:43]There are also all these races that people usually skip for the party leadership for the party committee races, those do not have ranked choice voting. Those are pick multiple. That's a whole other conversation which I can maybe talk to you about in another half hour. I'm not going to talk to you about that but um yeah, so those are the only races that that don't have Any final questions before I I give you another break before the mayoral I'll be here for another couple minutes if you do want to flag me down.

[00:06:18]Appreciate your time and enjoy the mayoral forum in about How long do we have?

[00:06:23]5 10 minutes?

[00:06:24]>> 8 minutes.

[00:06:25]>> 8 more minutes. All right. Enjoy your last few minutes of the forum.

[00:06:29]Oh, we have another one more question.

[00:06:32]>> Paul Swan >> Paul Swan. All right.

[00:06:35]Enjoy your break and enjoy the forum in 8 minutes.

[00:06:40]>> [laughter]