New guides, research, and reform wins!



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Hi Friend,



We’re back! As you may have noticed, you didn’t receive an edition of Three
Things Thursday last week. However, the lapse was not without good cause. Our
team was working diligently to finalize a new report co-authored by Protect
Democracy and Unite America entitled,“Towards Proportional Representation for
the U.S. House: Amending the Uniform Congressional District Act.”
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This new report traces the history and politics of congressional districting
while suggesting how a different election system — proportional representation
(also known as “PR”) — might yield a Congress that reflects the rich partisan,
ideological, geographical, racial, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity of the
United States. The report is a valuable addition to the growing body of
research about the ways various electoral reforms can benefit the voting
public. We sent out an announcement to our readers on Tuesday, which we hope
you have an opportunity to check out. And in case you missed the launch, you
can accessthe report here
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!







Thanks to FairVote Minnesota, momentum for statewide ranked choice voting is
gaining steam
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This month, legislators in the Minnesota State House heard testimony
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effectiveness and simplicity of ranked choice voting, including remarks from
Rep. Mary Peltola, D-AK.As noted in a tweet
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Peltola spoke of her state's positive experience with statewide ranked choice
voting, stating, "Voters tended to elect candidates with broad appeal who
minimized negative campaigning." There is active legislation in the Minnesota
State House and Senate that would create a task force to determine how to
implement the reform statewide.

The testimony given by Rep. Peltola before the Minnesota legislature further
supports the efficacy of ranked choice voting and related nonpartisan election
reforms. As you may recall, the “Alaska model” of voting also includes a
nonpartisan, Top Four primary, in which all candidates compete on a single
ballot and all eligible voters can participate, advancing the
top-four-finishing candidates per race to the general election. Afterexamining
the results there
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from 2022, it has become apparent that the Alaska Model is popular among
voters and can produce outcomes representative of the voting public (e.g.,
Peltola, a moderate Democrat; Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican; Gov.
Mike Dunleavy, a conservative Republican).





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A new ranked choice voting implementation guide was launched by RepresentUs,
RCV Resource Center, and Democracy Rising
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Congratulations to our partners for launching their new guide
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successfully implement and defend ranked choice voting laws after passing them.



The long-term success and defense of ranked choice voting campaigns directly
correlates with a successful first implementation of this election model. As
was noted in the intro of the guide, "A successful implementation process can
mean the difference between a smooth election that lives up to the promises of
your campaign and a fiasco that leaves voters and lawmakers wondering if this
new reform is worth the trouble." This guide was created to ensure that the
inaugural implementation of ranked choice voting is a success the first time,
every time.



“Some politicians hate Ranked Choice Voting for the same reason the vast
majority of Americans love it: it gives voters more power, weakens the
two-party establishment’s grip on politics, and it forces candidates to appeal
to a majority to win,” saidJoshua Graham Lynn, CEO of RepresentUs.
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“Our goal with Protect the Win is simple: to make sure we keep winning. This
guide is a critical tool. It gives advocates what they need to make sure new
RCV laws work, defend them from attacks, and continue the momentum toward a
government that represents us.”



Check out the guide <[link removed]>
to learn more!





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What is the way out of extremism? Election reform!
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Our partners at Citizen Data recently released their latest Political Impact
Report <[link removed]>,
which provides a deep dive into what happened in the midterms, and where our
democracy partners should focus their time and resources moving forward.The
Fulcrum published an article
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the top-line findings of the study that noted the following:



“We found that states with Top 2 [nonpartisan primaries], Top 4 RCV, or
statewide RCV were three times less likely to have an election denier win in
the 2022 general election compared to states without these reforms in use. Even
more encouraging, we found widespread support for these reforms, as nearly 6 in
10 voters nationwide said they would support a reform similar to Top 4 in
Alaska in their state,” said Mindy Finn, Founder and CEO of Citizen Data.
  


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Regards,



Alana
__
Alana Persson
Unite America

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