Legal Analysis: Approval Voting Could Face Challenges in Seattle

For Immediate Release: August 19, 2022

Media Contact:
Alan Durning, Founder and Executive Director
alandurning@sightline.org

SEATTLE, OR – Seattle voters will decide in November whether to adopt approval voting (AV), ranked choice voting (RCV), or no change to their primary election ballots. New analysis by Seattle-based law firm Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt LLP finds that, while RCV is safe from legal challenges, approval voting could face some legal risk. Specifically: 

• A state court could reject AV before it took effect under a provision in Washington’s election law;  
• After it took effect, AV could be vulnerable to court action under the federal or Washington state voting rights act; and  
• A court decision against AV does not seem likely but is possible. 

“RCV has repeatedly withstood challenges brought against it based on state and federal law,” the memo states. “Relative to approval voting, it is a known quantity, the legality of which is not seriously in doubt. Approval voting, in contrast, has been adopted by only two U.S. cities, and has not been subject to legal challenge in either. This means there are no cases evaluating approval voting’s legality.” 

Sightline Institute retained Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt LLP, which has a wealth of experience in campaign finance, election, and voting law, to examine the legality of AV and RCV for Seattle and offer an opinion, based on an extensive reading of federal and state law and court decisions. 

A summary of their findings and the full memo are available here. 

Prior articles in this series examined why AV is risky for Seattle and the implementation timeline for a new voting system in the city. 

About the Author:
Alan Durning is founder and executive director of Sightline Institute. His current topics of focus include housing affordability and democracy reform. Read his full bio here.

About Sightline Institute: Sightline Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank providing leading original analysis of housing, democracy, and energy policy in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.