INTERVIEW – VA STATE SENATOR ADAM EBBIN – (Democrat) – member of the Senate of Virginia, representing the 30th district in Northern Virginia since January 2012. 30th district is comprised of Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County

• Virginia Exploring Ranked Choice Voting for Local Elections. RICHMOND (WMAL) — A new form of voting may start deciding local elections in Virginia, with a bill pending in the State Senate that would allow localities to allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference rather than just voting for one. Its called ranked-choice voting — sometimes instant run-off voting — and advocates say that it creates greater consensus, preventing candidates winning without securing a true majority of votes. One of those advocates is freshman State Senator Adam Ebbin (D-30th) who is sponsoring the bill. He argues that ranked choice voting is the antidote for so-called “strategic voting,” where voters skip over candidates who they might agree more with because they don’t think they have a chance of winning.