Press Hits

Upcoming referendum on ballot could eliminate Instant Runoff Voting WMC-TV Memphis (w/video)

“Instant runoff voting makes elections more competitive, which incumbent politicians don't like,” said attorney Steve Mulroy, [who is] leading the charge to save Instant Runoff Voting.

Voting on referendums could lead to change in Memphis The Daily Helmsman

Aaron Fowles, a representative for Save IRV Memphis, said his organization is campaigning for the implementation of instant runoff voting because runoff elections often have lower turnouts.

Gerrymandering has been ‘weaponized’ in Michigan Bridge Magazine

Q&A with FairVote Senior Fellow Dave Daley on Michigan gerrymandering: “If we do not reform the system, our elections are going to turn into decennial battles over redistricting and have congressmen elected to two-year terms that are essentially 10-year terms. That is not for fair representation.”

The state we’re in: redistricting WAMU-FM Washington, DC (w/audio)

“1A” episode on gerrymandering featuring FairVote Senior Fellow Dave Daley and Voters Not Politicians’ Katie Fahey

Why can’t Americans rank their votes? Who.What.Why. (w/video)

Nice explainer blog on RCV, which includes a soundbite from Rob Richie’s interview on The Young Turks.

Stringer calls for major revision of city charter The Forum New York

Comptroller Scott Stringer released a new report detailing 65 recommended changes—many of them significant—to the governing document that is often referred to as NYC’s constitution. Among the proposals Stringer is calling for: adopting instant runoff voting.

Ranked choice voting changes the landscape for District 6 voters The Campanil

The introduction of ranked-choice voting in Oakland has changed the strategy behind campaign messaging and political endorsements.

A space “to convene, to learn and to celebrate” Harvard Magazine

Lawrence University Professor Michael Porter and Katharine Gehl, former CEO of Wisconsin-based Gehl Foods called for a reform strategy to “change the rules of the game.” This would involve instituting counterweights to money in politics, re-engineering the legislative machinery to eliminate partisan control, and allowing ranked-choice voting in general elections across the country.

Opinion

Vote no on all three November election referenda Memphis Flyer

Editorial: “All three, we think, either fail to advance the public interest, refute the public will, or are designed to be incumbent-friendly in a way that discourages free choice by the electorate. Or all of the above. The people have already voted, and by resounding margins, to establish Ranked Choice Voting (which eliminates the need for runoffs but allows for a rational and fair way to designate election winners in such cases), and the County Election Administrator has already set up the machinery for RCV in the 2019 city election.”

Confused by 3 Memphis ballot questions? Just vote ‘No” Memphis Commercial Appeal

Op-ed: “Ballot questions are a pure form of democracy, a way of letting the people speak. But they only work when the public understands them. When the questions are not only confusing but downright deceptive, they pervert rather than fulfill democracy.

More independents in the Senate - please Real Clear Politics

Column by A. B. Stoddard: “Reforms that will help free us from the trap of the two-party system are plentiful but will require energized advocacy from voters and independent-minded legislators at the state, local and federal level. They include ranked-choice voting, paths to opening primaries, as well as reforms to redistricting and campaign finance laws.”

Is the Supreme Court salvageable? Holland Sentinel

Shoutout to RCV from conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin.

If I was a legislator Daily Herald

Columnist: “ranked choice or mixed-member proportional voting in local elections... would be great to reduce partisanship and encourage people to get out and vote. Both would help us elect leaders who better represent the views of their constituents.”

Don’t worry, all is not lost. State and local activists are fixing our elections. Los Angeles Times

Op-ed on activist led-reforms, including redistricting ballot measures and adoption of ranked choice voting, which lets voters rank candidates in order of preference, leading to a better sense of the electorate’s overall desires, no need for runoff elections…

From FV’s “Voices & Choices” blog

Creative use of ranked choice voting bolsters Michigan’s Proposal 2 by Drew Penrose

Ranked choice voting was also a winner in San Francisco’s mayoral election By Nancy Lavin