Initiative 83 is Law

By: Miriam Edelman

Initiative 83, which would bring semi-open primaries and ranked-choice voting to the nation’s capital, is now law. DCNOW’s blog mentioned the initiative in multiple posts

After D.C. voters passed Initiative 83 in November 2024, the initiative went through D.C. government and Congress. On November 5, 2024, which was election day, the initiative became B25-1075. On December 2, 2024, B25-1075 was transmitted to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and enacted without her signature as A25-0652. On January 23, 2025, A25-0652 was transmitted to Congress. The initiative is law (L25-0295), effective March 7th.

As the law states, “This Initiative will not be implemented unless the D.C. Council separately chooses to appropriate funds for the projected costs.” At least Councilmembers Christina Henderson (At-Large) and Matthew Frumin (Ward 3) endorsed Initiative 83. Henderson said, “Ranked-choice voting opens up a whole new type of campaigning” and

You can’t just turn out your 2,000 people, you need to be able to build a broader coalition and talk to more folks … Even if you might disagree with a candidate on a particular policy issue, you want their voters to rank you high as well.

It is unclear if the D.C. Council will fund the law. After voters passed Initiative 83, the Washingtonian reported, “More likely, the council could reinterpret the initiative and fund only one aspect of it—or make other alterations.”

Political operative Chuck Thies, who supports open primaries but opposed the initiative because it contained ranked-choice voting, said “They don’t have to overturn the whole thing.” He added, “They can pick it apart. I could easily see this council approving ranked choice voting and hamstringing open primaries by not funding it.”

Thies could very well be correct. As DCNOW’s blog’s piece, entitled “Bring Ranked Choice Voting to Washington, D.C. (Ranked Choice Voting Part Two),” discussed, in 2021, Henderson introduced B34-0372  - Voter Ownership, Integrity, Choice, and Equity (VOICE) Amendment Act of 2021. The bill would have brought ranked-choice voting to the District of Columbia. Four of the other six co-introducers of the bill are current D.C. Councilmembers Brooke Pinto, Janeese Lewis George, Charles Allen, and Brianne Nadeau. Thus, those five D.C. Councilmembers and Frumin mean that at least six of the current D.C. Councilmembers support ranked-choice voting. Meanwhile, multiple D.C. Councilmembers have opposed or raised concerns about open primaries.

Again, DCNOW supports ranked-choice voting, but not semi-open primaries.