In the News: NBC4 covers Senate Bill 395 introduced by Senator Louis Blessing, III

What is consensus voting? Legislator wants to overhaul Ohio’s elections

“Though I voted in favor of S.B. 63, the problems ranked choice voting sought to address are very real,” Blessing said. “I have introduced S.B. 395 that captures all of the benefits of ranked choice voting with none of its flaws. Weep not for ranked choice voting when we could have this better system known as consensus voting…

“Unlike ranked-choice voting, there are no multiple rounds, difficulty programming machines and delays on results,” Blessing said. “Voting results could be shown in real-time and would be no slower than today.”

The senator argues the system would incentive candidates to appeal to a broader electorate, particularly independent voters, who he said make up a majority of Ohio’s registered voters. He also contends it would make it more difficult for well-funded political interests to dominate elections by targeting narrow partisan bases.