VIEWPOINT | South Dakota Legislature bans ranking, then uses it

Guest column by Joe Kirby

Every summer the South Dakota Legislature commissions a limited number of studies that lead to possible legislation the following year. This year there was an abundance of ideas for possible topics to be studied, including studies on prison funding and design, property taxes and the Legislature’s role in regulating artificial intelligence. Legislators were asked to rank their preferences 1 to 5 from their favorite to the least favorite.

Ranking seems like such a reasonable and intuitive way for people to express preferences when there are multiple options to choose from.

But wait a minute. Isn’t this the same Legislature that banned ranking only last year?

NEWS: Ranked-choice voting outlawed