Democracy is a chorus and it starts with you
Shadow politics
Let the midnight speak
For the overlook
The unheard, the strong and the weak
Senator Michael D. Brown
Holding open the door
Liberty Jones and
We were silent no more
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To the nation's soul
Every broken out voice
Makes the country whole
Shadow politics
In the dark and the sound
When America listens
Justice comes around
Justice comes around
Hello and welcome to
Shadow politics
On our long-breast
Roostock show, which is
Trying to make America think
Again.
That's our new theme song
I'm here tonight with
Liberty Jones and our
Special guest
Monica Holman Evans
Who's the executive director
Of the board of elections
In the district
Columbia.
We want to talk to her about
A new and exciting
And confusing way to vote
Called right towards voting
But first let me say
Before we start, let me
Thank Ms. Coleman Evans
For coming on tonight
Because voting has already
Started in the district
Columbia.
And this is a woman that's
She's a young and
Univisible with a
She's a young and easy right
Now so it's so kind of
You to be with us.
And let me just say briefly
She's had so much experience
In election work.
I can't tell you all of it.
It would take forever.
But I've got a shout out
That she got her
Juris doctorate at my
Alma Mater, the University
of Maryland.
So you always got to do a
Shout out to a fellow
President of the University of
Maryland.
And I'm going to ask you a
question.
And let's start by
Can you explain right towards
voting in terms that we can all
Understand because it seems
Very confusing to me.
Yes.
Well, it is my job to make it
Very clear to everyone
Because we need to make sure
People show up and people
Vote.
We don't want anyone to be
Just made by ranked choice
Voting.
So thank you for this
Opportunity.
The first thing I want to say
People keep asking board of
Elections why we decided to
Implement rate choice voting.
And so the first thing I just
Want to be clear that the
Voters in the District of
Columbia voted to bring
Ranked choice voting to D.C.
And the November 2024
General election.
Over 73% of voters say yes to
I-83.
And that is why we are now
Implementing ranked choice
Voting and then the D.C.
Council funded it in the
FY2026 budget.
So, ranked choice voting
Applied to every contest that
Contains at least three
Qualified candidates.
And so it is possible that you
Will have a ballot that will have
Rate choice voted contest and
Non-rate choice voted contest on
The same ballot.
And-
Can I stop you there a second?
Monica, what is a non-
What is a non-
A non-rate choice voting contest
Would be the way we've always
Voted.
One candidate and what it takes
Off.
And what differentiates the two?
Is it the fact that there's only
One candidate running for an
Office?
Well, when did you get the
Second candidate to the
Second candidate to the second
candidate to the second candidate?
Only one candidate running for
Office?
Well, when there are fewer than
Three candidates that select your
Top candidate.
And you don't rank candidate so
You don't have various column
Options.
But with a ranked choice voted
Contest, you can rank up to five
Candidates in any particular
Contest.
And you can rank in additional
Candidates does not harm your
First choice because you only have
One ballot vote at a time.
The other thing is voters are not
Required to rank candidates.
And so even though you have five
Columns where you can rank up to
Five candidates in a contest,
Voters are not required to
Rank candidates.
Therefore, if they voted to
Five candidates in a
Number of votes, they put that
First choice in the first column
Option, then that is perfectly
Acceptable.
The objective of ranked choice
Voting is that each candidate in
an RCB contest must receive
Over 50% of the votes in order for
Us to declare a winner.
So in the past, with plurality
Voting, we have had contests
Where a candidate may have only
Received 33, 35% of the vote, but
Because they received more votes
Than any other candidate, they
Were declared the winner.
Now that we're implementing rate
Choice voting, a candidate must
Cross the 50% threshold.
And so what we will do, we will
Look at all first choice options,
All votes in the first column.
And so essentially we're looking at
Every voters top candidate.
If no candidate received 50% of the
Vote after looking at that first
Round of balloting, then we have
To move to tabulation rounds.
And so in order for us to move to
Tabulation rounds, we will look at
The candidate that has received
The fewest votes in that first
Round.
That candidate would then come off
Of the ballot would be because
And then for every voter that voted
For that eliminated candidate,
We redistribute their votes based on
Their second choice.
And we keep.
What we're saying, I'm sorry again.
I hate to suck you again,
I don't mean you're a rock.
Because I want to make sure that
We're being clear and that we're
In the first column.
And we're going to make sure that
We're going to make sure that
We're going to make sure that
We're being clear and that we're
Answering all questions.
And the welcome.
Okay, so my question is,
Is that only for the people that voted
For the candidate for number one who
Didn't win or do you count all
Voters second choice?
You know what I mean?
Am I making sense?
The second choice of the voters
With the eliminated candidate.
And it's a lot easier to explain this
With visuals than it is in a podcast
Or a radio format.
But essentially, if you have five
Candidates in a contest.
And we look at the first round of
Balloting and candidate A through
No candidate has received 50% of the
Votes.
And so we look at all five of those
Candidates and we determine which
Candidates received the fewest
Number of votes.
And so if candidate C received the
Fewest number of votes, candidate C is
Eliminated and removed from the
Ballot.
All voters who voted for candidate C,
We would look at their second choice.
And so it's essentially allowing
Voters to select their first choice
Candidate, but then backup options
And the event their top candidate is
Eliminated from that contest.
Well, first of all, let me tell you
Thank you again for taking on such a
Big task.
I mean, this has got to be tough to
Tabulate all this stuff at the end,
Right?
And I've got to tell you, I don't
Think it's a good idea personally.
I think that that, you know, I don't
Understand why we want to end up with
The set.
I understand the motivation guide, but
I'm not sure why I understand why we
And I'm not sure why we want to end up
With the second candidate.
Liberty Jones since you're twice as
Smart as I am, do you want to do you
Understand this stuff?
I understand it.
I appreciate it, but you know, why is
It better?
That's a good question.
Why do you think it's gained so much
Momentum in the last year?
And it seems like it's making it a lot
More difficult for you guys, you know,
The Board of Elections.
So what are the benefits of changing
I mean, it does have some challenges.
And one of the biggest challenges for us is educating because a lot of voters, even though
they voted for rate choice voting, they weren't really aware of what they were voting for
at the magnitude of saying yes to I-83.
So we're finding that we're having to do a lot of education.
And it also has cost us money as far as reprogramming equipment, getting software and then hiring
people to assist us with those voter education and outreach efforts.
We do not take an opinion as far as if this is better.
But the premise behind rate choice voting is that there is a belief that a candidate
should receive the majority of the voters' votes before being declared the winner.
And so in the past, we've had some very close races, particularly races that have a lot
of candidates.
And so we may have a candidate winning a contest only receiving 30% of the total votes,
which means that if you have three candidates, the winner receives 30% of the votes and then
the other two candidates receive 25% and then, you know, a slew of other percentages.
You technically have more people who did not vote for the winning candidate than voted
for the winning candidate.
And so they're saying that this way we can at least accurately hear an affirmative voice
from a majority of voters before a candidate is declared the winner.
Rank choice voting has also received a lot of momentum in other jurisdictions.
And so even our neighbor in Arlington County has used rank choice voting, New York, Minneapolis,
Alaska.
And so we have had an opportunity to talk to some of the jurisdictions that have implemented
rate choice voting.
One of the things that's challenging for DC is the fact that we have pretty much the
most robust rollout of ranked choice voting because our CV applies to every contest in
the District of Columbia with the exception of your political party offices and it applies
to every election that DC Board of Elections administers.
And so that would be primary, general and special elections going forward.
And does that include A and G commissioners?
It does.
Yeah, and there's a lot of A and G commissioners.
There are.
So as long as there are three qualified candidates in a contest, our CV will apply to that contest.
With the A and Cs, a lot of times there may only be two candidates.
And so in the event there are only two candidates, then our CV would not apply to that particular
contest.
Okay, well, let me let me address the 800 pound gorilla in the room, which is at large,
at large candidates, right?
I ran at large for City Council and I came in very close to winning.
I came in the first shoot to Canada each one.
And I came in third and I did it by putting people I didn't have any money, but I put
people at election polling places with T-shirts that said, make your second vote
count and scientists said, make your second vote count because 100,000 people in the prior
election didn't vote the second vote.
They don't understand how to can vote for two people for the same office.
So that's what perplexes me most is what's going to happen in Everest.
In my memory, Monica, ever got more than about 30% of the vote on the second vote.
So what do you do in that case?
Yes.
Yes.
And so the example that you are referring to would be in the general election where you
can write general election, right?
Yes.
And so I don't want to go into it too deeply because I want to focus on the primary, but
that is something we will absolutely have to address ahead of the general.
And so things will be different.
In the past, as you mentioned, you've looked for two candidates.
Now voters are required to rank candidates in that at large race.
And so there will not be two candidates that received the top choice vote.
And so you will have to give one candidate your first choice vote, one candidate your
second choice vote, third, fourth, fifth, up to five rankings.
And we continue rounds of tabulation until there are only two candidates remaining.
And so we will go through the same process of eliminating candidates based on who has
received the fewest number of votes.
And we will keep doing that until we have two candidates remaining in that contest.
So the at large race is going to look a little different than it has in the past.
Yeah, sure.
Well, and can I ask you before I let Liberty get in here again, can I ask you, what did
you learn when you talked to those other cities, when you talked to Arlington and Minneapolis
and what what prop do you foresee potential problems that they had that you might be able
to overcome somehow?
Well, one thing that everyone stressed, please put out there that DC Board of Elections is
the trusted source when it comes to ranked choice voting.
Because a lot of people try to educate themselves by going online or by talking to people who
claim to be experts.
The problem is ranked choice voting is administered differently in different jurisdictions.
And so the rules may be different in Minneapolis than they are in DC.
And so we really need to make sure that people are listening to DC Board of Elections.
I also received a postcard mailer earlier in this election cycle that had incorrect information
about ranked choice voting.
And so I had to reach out to that organization to get that information corrected.
And so that is one of the challenges that there are so many models of ranked choice
voting.
We need to make sure that the voters in residence in DC understand how it's being implemented
here.
Another thing that we are trying to really get voters to do, even if you are planning
to vote in person, we are mailing a ballot to each registered voter.
And we are asking people to use that ballot as their vote guide, even if they're voting
in person, and to become familiar with that ballot so that when you arrive at the vote
center, you are prepared with how you're going to rank candidates.
Because we know the process of ranking candidates is going to take longer.
And so we are anticipating more people in our vote centers for a longer period of time.
But if people come ready and prepared and they've done the research in their homework
before arriving at the vote center, then we feel like we'll be able to manage the flow
of traffic better in vote centers.
And then finally, no matter how much advanced education and outreach we do, we know that
people will absolutely show up at vote centers.
They will look at the ballot and they will ask, what is this?
And so we are prepared to have informational materials at vote centers.
And we have trained our site coordinators around ranked choice voting so that they can
be an on the ground expert.
And so we will have someone available to help to explain the RCD process at each vote center.
Well, before I let Liberty in again, let me just say, I want to make a comment about
people that work at polling places.
You know, a lot of people have disparaged, you can back me up on this, Madam Executive
Director, but a lot of people who experience, you know, fake voting and all sorts of things.
But let me tell you something, every Alexa worker I've ever met in my life and I've been
to hundreds of polling places in my 40 years of campaigning for different candidates and
for myself.
Every Alexa worker I've ever met is honest.
Is there because they love America and they're trying to do something for the Pacific dude.
They're trying to help.
They really are honest, loyal.
Is that not true?
That is very true.
And one of the things I just want to commend our election workers.
Yeah, absolutely.
We cannot run an election without our election workers.
And during every election cycle, our goal is to train approximately 2000 election workers.
And so we are very grateful, particularly to those season election workers to continue
to come out election after election.
We just can't be thankful enough for that.
Well, I'm overseasoned these days, so I don't think I'll be at the polling place, but go
ahead.
Liberty, what's up?
Yeah, you know, I really appreciate all of your voter education efforts.
I think that's really important.
And I know that it must be a lot more work, but it seems like this is very encompassing
of people's decisions.
My question to you is, do you think that there are particular communities or group of
voters that will benefit most from ring choice voting?
I would say I can't really speak as particularly because this is the first time it's being
rolled out in DC.
So we don't have a lot of information about how it will be received and how DC voters
will choose to engage with ring choice voting.
However, we do know that outcomes that look very different.
And so we would pretty much say that people who are familiar with ring choice voting and
take advantage of the opportunity to rank all of the candidates, they will probably
benefit more because in the event their candidate is eliminated, they have backup
options.
And for voters who either don't want to rank candidates or don't feel as though they understand
ring choice voting or they don't know enough about multiple candidates to rank five, it
is possible in subsequent rounds of tabulation, they don't have a vote.
And so those who understand it and take full advantage of the opportunity to rank up to
five candidates will continue to have a voice and subsequent rounds of tabulation.
So I would say those who embrace ring choice voting and take full advantage of it would
probably have somewhat of an advantage in the event we have to move to rounds of tabulation.
But I'm very interested, you know, we'll see studies about this after this first round
of the implementation of ring choice voting.
And we always collect information on under votes, over votes, and after a general election
we always do an after action report where we look at some of the practices and observations
throughout that election cycle.
So this will be very interesting to kind of dissect what happens in the 2026 elections.
Yeah, I was saying I'm glad that we have a lawyer at the helm of the Board of Elections
because I see a lot as a candidate, I think there's going to be a lot of legal stuff going
on after this.
I mean, you know, I don't expect your opinion on this Monica, but I just want to say that,
you know, there's always rancor at the end of election.
There's always, you know, the votes for a counter riot or I should have gotten this or something
like that.
There's always people that complain.
So I would think that the amount of complaints are going to go away up.
I hope not.
I hope it's not a nightmare for you.
But let me ask you something.
Not about when you go to a polling place and they can't identify you, but you want to
vote, you can vote a thing called a special ballot and then they research it after the
fact and if you're a legitimate voter, then your vote counts.
So my question to you is if you skip somebody on the ballot or if you vote for some person
as the number one candidate, you vote for more than one person in the number one spot,
your ballot doesn't count.
Do those people get to recast that ballot or is just thrown out?
Well, there are certain mistakes you want to avoid with rate choice voting.
And so if you choose two candidates in the column one ranking, that means that at that
point that contest becomes inactive or invalid.
It does not mean your entire ballot becomes inactive or invalid, but just for that contest.
And it's so that's an over.
Excuse me.
So that's an over vote.
Yes, that would be an over vote.
Correct.
Correct.
And so at the point of the over vote, it becomes enacted.
So if you rank one candidate in column one, one candidate in column two, and then two
candidates in column three, your column one choice would be valid, your column two choice
would be valid.
But at your number three ranking where you've ranked two candidates, it's at that point
that that particular contest becomes inactive.
So if you happen to pick the winning candidate and your first choice ranking, and we never
have to get to that third column where you have the over vote, then your vote is absolutely
valid in that particular contest.
So it depends on the point that you make the error of the over vote.
But you do not get a do over to answer your question.
If there's an over vote, we count that as an over vote, but a voter will not have an
opportunity to correct the ballot once that ballot has been cast.
Wow.
All I can say is get a lot of sleep, Monica, and make sure you have a supply of wine.
Make sure you have a supply of wine around.
Because it is really self-complicated.
Liberty.
Yeah, so maybe Senator Brown, you can also button to answering this.
But how do you think this is going to change candidate behavior?
And if you were running in a ranked choice voting election, how do you think your candidacy
would have been different?
Well, you know, if I was running, and as I explained to Monica a few minutes ago, I
said vote your second vote.
I mean, that's what I would do.
If I were to candidate, that's how it would change my behavior.
It would change my behavior in getting people to have a fallback position.
You know, because right, you want to be, if you're not the number one candidate, you
want to be the number two candidate, right, in case the number one candidate doesn't get
50%.
So you want to convince everybody that you're at least worth voting for it, even if you're
not their top pick.
And I think that's substantial.
I think, you know, when you talk to people, you know, it would certainly change the narrative
for me and would change the kind of information I'm putting out.
I don't know if that answered your question, but, you know, it certainly would change the
narrative for me if nothing else.
Yes.
Senator Brown, I think that's absolutely accurate.
And we've seen candidates partnering.
I have seen candidates that have teamed up and they said, rank me number one, make her
number two, rank me number one, make him number two, and they are encouraging people to vote
and rank them one and two.
So I have seen some teamwork in the district.
The other thing that, and Tom will tell with all of this, but they say ranked choice voting
will potentially eliminate a lot of the negative campaigning because you're not just trying
to convince voters to vote you number one, but you really want to convince them if you're
not going to vote for me number one, make me your second choice or make me your third
choice so that you still are in the midst as far as being a backup candidate.
And so the theory is candidates will not want to alienate voters because even if you're
not, you know, the top choice, I still have the possibility of getting someone to select
me in a subsequent column ranking.
So we'll see how it plays out.
There's not a lot and enough data on that, but that is one of the things I'm beginning
to hear.
Yeah, and that's very interesting.
I wouldn't have thought of that, but I can see where that absolutely takes place.
And I bet it will cut down at least on some of the negativity, right, that you won't be
crashing the other candidate because that makes you look bad and you want to be in
the second place.
But let me tell you, it's something that I will miss because I think it's a lovely moment
when somebody that said terrible stuff about you for six months and you win stands up
and hugs you and says, I'm proud to work with Senator Brown.
I know I called him a lot of, I called him a lot of me think, but now I'm happy.
So I will miss that little part, but I bet you're right.
I bet it will cut down on a negative bit campaigning and I can see where people would
team up together.
And of course in DC, if you're listening outside the district, Columbia, and you don't understand
its fact about voting with DC, if you win a DC primary, democratic primary, I can't remember
the last time somebody won the democratic primary didn't win the general election.
So this is the big one.
The one that's coming up for the candidates anyway.
And let me ask you about that, since that is so important in DC, is there any effort
to get people to come out more for the primary?
Because a lot of people don't understand how important a primary election is.
That is true.
And we really encourage people to vote.
We do not invest in get out the vote efforts with DC board of elections because we're
not tasked with that specifically.
But we really want to make sure voters and residents have everything they need in order
to be educated about voting and to make the franchise as accessible as we can.
And that includes same day voting, which we have enjoyed in DC for a number of election
cycles.
And so you wake up on election day.
You're not registered to vote.
It's not a problem.
And that's one of the things I love about DC.
I really think we have expanded the franchise to be very inclusive and to allow everyone
who wants to vote an opportunity to vote.
You've absolutely done that.
And again, in my humble opinion, we've gone overboard.
The city council has gone overboard.
We've passed the law that non citizens can vote in the district, Columbia, and local
ballots.
Has that been challenged?
It's a board of elections.
Because we still do that, right?
You can do that.
You can vote if you're a non citizen in local elections.
Yes.
So the house has passed a bill that would roll that back.
And prohibit non citizen voting in the district of Columbia.
A companion bill was introduced in the United States Senate, but we have not seen any definitive
action on the companion Senate bill.
So I know a lot of churning right now.
But as of today, non citizens are able to vote in local elections in DC.
Yeah.
And there's so much going on on the other side too, on the Republican side, in terms
of trying to restrict access that I think is probably good, which is a lot of things
churning.
But as somebody that stood up for the people of DC for 18 years and said this voting was
a benefit of Senate, you know, what was a right of citizenship.
Yeah, it did bother me to see that much as I know that there's a great, I don't know,
egalitarian sentiment behind it to let people that pay taxes in the district have a say in
district affairs.
So, but yeah, it's not going to play well with the Republicans.
I always said that.
Anyway, Liberty Jones, you have a great question.
Yeah, so I have kind of a follow up to that.
You know, if ring choice voting were to be implemented as the national norm, how do you
think that would change the Democratic and Republican parties?
Which one of us are asking?
Yeah.
I'm sorry, Monica.
I was going to say I'm going to punt that to you, Senator.
You may have an interesting take on that.
Well, given that I've been a Democrat for a long time, you know, the one true statement
that was said about the Democratic party that I've never ever challenged was, well, Rogers,
you said, I belong to no organized political movement on the Democrat.
And so that's somewhat of a problem.
I would think for the much more for the Democrats than the Republicans, because we also say
Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line.
And you know that so there much more orderly.
I would think right choice voting would fit in work to the way they do business than the
way the Democrats do business.
And we've seen, you know, there were terrible conventions, the Bernie people didn't like
the Hillary people.
And so I think it would really, really affect the Democratic party internally more than
it affects the Republicans.
But, you know, as Monica said, really, this is really a field experiment, right?
Well, all these places that are doing this.
So we really need to see what happens how it pans out.
But I think you may just a really, really good comment about how this is changing the
way people cooperate and want to campaign with each other.
So I think more than anything, what you said, Monica, is that would probably be the biggest
effect that people want to change.
They would want to change it the way they do it.
And I don't think the Democrats are always, you know, there's too much, we're a big tent
in the Democratic party.
Let's go out to say so.
There's a lot of division inside the party at times.
And I think that the Republicans will probably deal better with it in the long run than the
Democrats would.
And I ask you about some of the other things that the Board of Elections has involved in.
One thing that I always thought was strange is how we pick ballot petitions, positions.
I'm sorry, ballot positions.
You know, there's a thing called the California law, for example, then California, only if
there's three candidates, you can be on the first position and only a third of the ballots.
And each candidate has to be on in the first position on the third of the ballots because
studies have shown that the person in the first position has a slight advantage.
So what we do in the District of Columbia is we pick our name out of a hat.
And doesn't it?
I mean, I got to be honest.
I picked my name out of a hat twice.
I mean three times.
Now, so many pick for me once.
And I picked twice.
And both times I picked my name first because when they drop the things in the hat, it's
not that hard to they shake up the hat a little bit, but you still have a greater chance
if you pay attention to it, you still increase your chances of picking your name.
I think if you pay attention to the way the names are dropped in and how the hat is taken.
What do you think about that?
Should we change that?
It seems kind of an anaphoid.
Although it's kind of a sweet tradition, but it seems adequate to me.
Yes.
Well, in the instance of choosing ballot placement, we do select the names out of a hat.
The candidates aren't the ones selecting the names.
So we do not have an interest.
It's a representative of Board of Elections selecting the name.
So we don't have an interest in who's first, second, third, etc.
And we don't.
Well, and that's different from when I did it.
Because when I did it, they let us choose or you could designate something.
Right.
You could designate somebody to choose for you.
It's what, yeah, it makes a lot more sense if the, it's a lot fairer if the Board of
Elections is choosing the name.
I think, you know, that was a great.
Yes.
Yeah.
And it's, and we do, you know, put out a press release before we, I'm engaging that
process.
And so we do it by zoom so people can look and actually see it real time as those names
are being pulled out.
And we're reading those names and we have a check and balance system where one person
puts the names in some of the other shapes and mops and one pulls the names.
And then, you know, we're making sure that we have checks and balances with that process.
Well, good job.
I don't have a position on it.
Right now it's the role we've been given.
And so we're just following it.
Well, you know what, and it is an execution, you know, and now that the Board of Elections
is doing it rather than the candidates, I think it's fairer, you know, because you're
right, you don't have an interest in a particular candidate.
And that's not true with the rest of us.
You know, we're looking for every little advantage we can find.
And let me ask you about signatures.
This is also antiquated.
And the problem with it, we have to get 2,000 legitimate signatures of members who are
a party, for example, if you want to run for my office.
And the problem with it, two states, is that the, I'm sorry, my phone's gone off, is that
people don't like doing it.
There's suspicious of it.
And they, and you know, we have to do it in like January and February, but it's not
right, February, because they, because they, they changed the primary, they moved it off.
So it's difficult to do it.
And it really benefits incumbents.
Because incumbents don't have any problem getting the same.
If the mayor is incumbent and she needs 2,000 signatures, what she needs, she's got 50 people,
100 people that are willing to go out and get signatures for her.
But for a new candidate, that's very, very hard.
First time I ran, I got 3,700 signatures by myself.
And I can tell you that, that's, now the good, the upside of that is I got to meet a lot of
voters.
And I got to talk to a lot of voters.
So it's not necessarily a bad process, but in most states, it's my understanding, Monica,
that you pay a fee to run.
Is that true, do you know?
Yes, a lot of jurisdictions have done away with the petition process and candidates pay
to gain ballot access.
And it's not through the petition process.
I don't take a position on it, but it would be an interesting study just to see what those
jurisdictions have learned and how they view the process of, you know, pay to play, if
you will.
Okay, Liberty, did you catch that?
Because that's your master's thesis.
Pay to play.
Yeah, pay to play.
Okay, go ahead.
So yeah, in terms of, you know, this conversation about legitimacy that we're having, do you
think that with ranked choice voting, going back to that, do you think, I mean, recently,
especially as a young person, we've seen a lot of growing distrust in election outcomes.
And do you think that ranked choice voting will increase public trust in elections, or
have you been dealt with more skepticism, would you say?
I would say based on conversations, I'm having there more skepticism.
And some of it is just based on the fact that it's a little confusing.
And the voting process isn't necessarily confusing because you're just ranking candidates.
If you know you have at least three candidates in the contest, and you know that you always
have the ability to rank up to five if they're five or more in that particular contest.
So selecting a candidate one, two, three, four, five isn't a difficult process.
The challenge comes when you're trying to figure out do I have five candidates I like?
Do I want to rank five candidates?
Do I want to rank fewer than five candidates?
Do I only want to rank my top choice candidate?
I don't like any of the candidates.
I don't want to rank them.
So you're going through an exercise that you haven't necessarily gone through before.
And then the real challenging piece is the tabulation piece because people are trying
to figure that out and how that works.
And we have national experts working with us, working with our voting equipment, the
software we're using, and that has all been tested.
One of the things that we try to do to ensure faith and integrity in the process, our processes
are open to the public.
So after we have the final ballot, that would be after we conduct the ballot lottery in
determine placement of the candidates, we go through a process of logic and accuracy
testing where we test every piece of equipment before it is ever deployed to a vote center.
And so we are confirming accurate results.
If there's ever any anomaly or something that is not functioning right with a piece of equipment,
that piece of equipment is never deployed to a vote center.
Additionally, when we are tabulating and running ballots through our equipment, people
can call the board of elections and observe that process.
And so a lot of times when you're able to observe, when you're able to ask questions,
it allows you to have greater confidence in what is happening and the way it's happening.
And so we encourage people to take advantage of it.
We even encourage our elected officials to come because they can help to amplify the
message when they see the process for themselves.
And then they can continue to let people know that there are measures in place to ensure
integrity and transparency.
Yeah, I think that's a great question, Liberty, because I think it will.
I think there's that Monica's been given this amazing, difficult task with people.
And I'm sure you're doing a wonderful job.
But I can see that people will.
I mean, if you can say that mail-in ballots are fraudulent because anybody can mail them in.
And we know for a fact how many studies have been done, it shows that there is no election
fraud to speak up in America, especially at polling places and also with mail-in ballots.
But still people use it.
They say, oh, anybody could go to mailbox and mail in a ballot.
That's not really true, right?
Because the ballot has to be mailed to you.
But I think people will use that.
I think people will use that, whether it's legitimate or not.
Yeah.
And there are a lot of soundbites out there about mail ballots.
But in addition to the Columbia, we do have 100% signature verification on all voted ballots.
And so when we get a mail ballot returned from a voter, we run that ballot through our
Agilis voting equipment, which scans the bar code.
After we have received it and been able to identify that that ballot is now in the possession
of Board of Elections.
When we go through a process of removing the flap over the signature, then we run those
ballots again and we capture every signature on those ballots.
We check the signature on those voted ballots against all of the signatures we have in our
system.
We have signatures from whatever voter registration form you initially signed.
Every time you have voted in person at a vote center and you sign that poll path, every
time you vote it by mail in the past, all of those signatures are captured.
And so we're able to verify the most recent ballot with the signature we have on file.
In the event, we cannot verify that signature.
There is an opportunity for a voter to cure that ballot.
And so we reach out to the voter and we indicate that we're unable to verify the signature
and they have an opportunity to provide us with their updated signature so we can ensure
that we have the signature from that voter.
Because one thing we know, signatures change over time too, either through age, illness,
accidents.
You know, I break my right hand.
I have to now write with my left hand for a period of time.
So there are reasons why a signature may not match the signature we have on file.
And so we absolutely give voters an opportunity to cure those signatures.
But it also has brought to bear instances where people have intercepted a ballot and
tried to return it on behalf of the true voter.
And we have caught those there even been situations where the FBI has reached out to
us about ballots that we have received.
And we're very fortunate to be able to say that every ballot we've been questioned about
was not counted by DC Board of Elections.
Well, let me just add that I'm living proof that signatures change.
I went to the bank a couple of months ago and wrote a check in front of the bank teller
that I've been going to for 15 years.
And she said the signatures didn't match and didn't want to catch the check.
And I'm like, well, you know, I guess the signature I gave you when I was 45 is not the
same as the signature I've got now when I'm 72.
And so, so yeah, they do change over time.
Yeah.
Anyway, so that's why I think this is so important because it's so complicated.
It's so nice of you to come on and explain this to us because I think it's going to be
very trying for a lot of people.
So the more the more information that's out there, the better.
And folks, you can download.
We will put this on our website, this interview, and you can download it.
You send it to your friends if you want to or whatever.
The more educated voters we get out there, the better because that's what really shows
on a mission to do is to make Americans think again about what they're doing when they go
to the ballot box.
So let me ask you, we're running out of time here, Monica.
So let me ask you, we got about five minutes left.
What have we not asked you that you want to say?
Okay, in the last five minutes, I'll say a few things.
One, there are a lot of resources on our website, including a video that will walk voters through
the process with visual.
So please, our website is www.dcdoe.org.
A lot of materials, a lot of visuals there to educate around ranked choice voting.
There will also be resources at our vote centers.
I want to stress early voting will begin on June 8th, will run June 8th through June 14th.
We will have 25 early vote centers open from 8.30 AM to 7 PM.
On election day, we will have a total of 75 vote centers open from 7 PM to 8 PM on June
16th.
We are asking people to vote early.
If you wait until election day, there could be some lines because we know that the process
of ranking candidates will take longer.
But the main thing I want to stress, yes, ranked choice voting is a new method of voting
in DC.
However, do not let that stop you from voting.
If you do not understand, please reach out to us.
Our phone number is 202-727-2525.
If you call us, we can answer any questions you have.
You can come to our offices.
We have a ranked choice voting or RCB lab in our office where you can practice on sample
ballots.
You can practice on our voting equipment.
So there are a number of ways that we are trying to reach people where they are to ensure
they have the tools they need to feel comfortable about voting in this June 16th election.
Thank you so much for that.
Let me tell you, I guess it is all the way you look at voting.
I have for many years, it is a right of citizenship.
To be honest with you, I feel it is an obligation.
I feel obliged to my grandmother, who was among the first women to vote in America.
I feel like I owe it to my dad, who is a Trump to cross Europe during the Second World
War and state democracy.
I think I owe it to every American that has come before me and made a country that has
given me just exceptional opportunity.
So get out there and vote.
I have never missed an election.
It is so, so important.
Livery, we have a couple minutes left.
You want to say something?
Thank you so much, Monica.
Really, I, as a young person, you know, I really appreciate innovation and I can see how much
work it takes to create change like this.
But it truly seems that it is going to be something really beautiful for the future of
democracy.
And I really appreciate all the work you guys are putting into it.
Thank you.
I appreciate the comment.
Yeah, absolutely.
I feel exactly the same way.
And every show we exit the show with, we play something in honor of our guests.
And tonight I found a song by Willie Nelson of all people called Vote Em Out.
And that's it, folks.
You don't need term limits.
You don't need term limits.
If you don't like them, vote them out.
But somebody you knew in.
So here's Willie with Vote Em Out dedicated to our dedicated public servant, Monica Holmes
Evans.
Thanks so much, Monica.
When you get through this, call me and we'll take that for a drink because you're going
to need it.
And we appreciate it.
And people get out there and vote, please.
So we'll see you next week.
Thank you, Liberty Jones.
Thank you, Monica, Holman Evans.
And let's all get out there and vote, folks.
See you next week.