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Voters, advocacy groups press council to fund Initiative 83; campaign finance office warns Fair Elections program needs more money
Summary
Residents and civic groups urged the Council’s budget committee to include funding to implement Initiative 83 — ranked‑choice voting and an open primary option for independent voters — as advocates said the implementation cost is modest and primarily for voter education; separately the Office of Campaign Finance told the committee it needs a substantial enhancement to cover projected Fair Elections payments in the 2026 cycle.
Scores of residents, civic groups and political activists testified June 6 that the District should fund implementation of Initiative 83 — a voter‑approved measure establishing ranked‑choice voting and allowing registered independents to vote in a single party primary — and they urged the Council to include the modest implementation funding in the FY26 budget.
Advocates and a broad coalition of witnesses told the Committee on Executive Administration and Labor that Initiative 83 passed with unusually high margins — 73 percent citywide and supermajorities in all eight wards — and that implementing the initiative will require primarily voter education, updated ballot formats and modest systems work. Witnesses and citizen proponents repeatedly cited a Board of Elections estimate that implementation would require about $1.5 million spread over four years; supporters asked the council to provide that funding so the Board can begin voter education early and have…
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