Is 2025 the year Falls Church follows neighboring Arlington in enacting ranked-choice voting to elect the governing body?

That’s a question that will be answered by the seven-member membership in the coming months. City councilIts members will need to consider both logistical and philosophical issues before reaching a decision and setting the timetable.

And now, with the 2024 campaign season in the rearview mirror, it’s a discussion that could be had soon.

“The City Council has said it wants to consider it,” Renee Andrews, secretary of the Falls Church Board of Elections, said Tuesday, Nov. 12, as Board of Elections members were putting the finishing touches on completing the count for the 2024 election.

If the change is implemented, Falls Church will be able to use the ranked option to choose the four Council seats that will be on the ballot next year. Alternatively, city leaders could take the more traditional winner(s)-take-all approach for now.

To elect council members, voters currently have as many votes as there are slots on the ballot (three or four, depending on the year); No matter how high or low the vote percentages are, those who get the most votes win. Under the ranked-choice format, candidates must reach a minimum vote threshold, which varies depending on the number of seats and the number of candidates.

2021 The race saw six candidates vying for four seats; inside 2023There were four candidates for three seats. The posts of mayor and deputy mayor are not independently elected, but are chosen by Council members from among their ranks.

Falls Church election officials think current voting equipment will allow the public to rank up to six candidates in order of preference, where Arlington is currently limited to three.

This year, Arlington officials used powers granted by the General Assembly. first-line general election In the history of Virginia. It was not necessary to speed up the ranked-choice mechanism, as Democrat J.D. Spain, Sr. won an absolute majority of the votes in the four-candidate field for the single seat on the ballot.

In both, ranked voting played a more important role in selecting Democratic candidates 2023 And 2024When used in the Arlington County Board primaries. Unlike most Virginia jurisdictions, Arlington elects at least one member of its governing body each November.

In Arlington, County Board races are partisan events, with Democrats long dominant, meaning Democratic primaries or caucuses are often actual general elections. In Falls Church, City Council races are nonpartisan, but are governed by custom and tradition rather than law; Democrats or Republicans can use caucuses or primaries to choose candidates if they wish.

State law gives local government bodies the authority to decide on the use of ranked-choice voting; Currently, changing formats is limited to supervisory boards and city councils, no other offices. To implement this in the November 2025 election, Falls Church leaders would need to pass an ordinance by mid-summer.

David Bjerke, Falls Church’s general registrar, said from a logistical standpoint, ranked choice could feasibly be implemented as early as next year. Or, he said, city leaders may choose to wait until the Council elections in 2027, when next-generation election equipment is expected to be purchased.

The state law that allows the move to ranked-choice voting does not appear to allow for a community referendum on the issue.

Council members have previously said they would wait until after the 2024 elections to dive into the issue.

Although Arlington is so far the only county in Virginia with a ranked-choice general election, the Charlottesville City Council Voted 4-1 in September to test the alternative voting system during the June 2025 council primaries. Many other districts are also considering moving forward with this idea.

Expanding ranked-choice voting to the statewide, legislature, School Board and constitutional offices would require agreement between the Democrat-controlled General Assembly and the Republican governor. Any consensus on the issue in Richmond seems unlikely in the year leading up to statewide elections.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) for years supported federal legislation Using the ranked-choice process in congressional elections, but that was considered a long shot even before November 5 and is likely to be even more so now.

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