Summer is just around the corner, and ranked choice voting (RCV) is having a
moment with use in some of America’s largest and most influential jurisdictions.

DEAR {{SMARTNAME}},

Summer is just around the corner, and ranked choice voting (RCV) is having a
moment with use in some of America’s largest and most influential jurisdictions.
RCV is already the law in the largest city in seven states, with campaigns
developing in several more. RCV IN ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

On June 20, Arlington County will become the first Virginia community to use RCV
in a state-run primary, and even better – they’re usingproportional RCV! We’re
thrilled to see FairVote’s signature reform being used right next to our
nation’s capital. This is a step towards building support for theFair
Representation Actin Congress.

Proportional RCV is already making headlines in the D.C. papers, meaning
national politicians and their staff are learning how it can improve our
elections. Over the past few days, Arlington’s RCV contest has been covered in
the Washington Post,DCist, and more. RCV IN NEW YORK CITY

Just one week later on June 27, the nation’s largest city will hold RCV
primaries for the second time. This is thefirst electionsince New York City’s
council seats were redistricted – while it will be a quieter election than 2021
without any citywide offices on the ballot, we will be in for at least a few
competitive, crowded races.

We already know New Yorkers support this reform because they’ve told us so!
After the last NYC elections, a whopping majority of voters reportedthat RCV is
easy to use (95%) and that they want to keep using it (77%).

Notably, two of the candidates who competed in New York’s first RCV mayoral
primaries went on to be some of its biggest advocates: Maya Wiley wrote an op-ed
shortly after the race explaining RCV’s benefits for women and communities of
color (NYC elected its first-ever majority-women city council in 2021). Andrew
Yang has made RCV acentral partof his mission and joined the FairVote Action
board. Even though they didn’t win, Wiley and Yang still felt the benefits of
RCV. RCV THIS FALL

We expect more than 15 cities to use RCV this fall, including the largest cities
in Utah and Maine. You can see where RCV is used across the country on this
FairVote resource page. For indications of where the nation is heading in
reform, we now have some90 colleges and universitiesfrom coast to coast using
RCV; young people are particularly hungry for what RCV brings to our politics.
KENTUCKY REPUBLICANS’ PRIMARY PROBLEM

Of course, elections don’t just make the news for doing things right. Plenty of
single-choice elections are in the news because of how badly they’ve gone wrong.

Kentucky is gearing upfor an extremely competitive gubernatorial election, with
an incumbent Democratic governor running for re-election in a deeply
conservative state. In the Republican primary this coming Tuesday, May 16,
twelve Republicans are vying for the chance to take on Gov. Andy Beshear in the
general election.

Yet Republicans might hurt their chances due to the vicious, broken nature of
their primary. The candidates are focused more on destroying their opponents’
reputations than debating policy, in what Vox describes as a “knife fight.” The
leading candidate has just 30 percent of the vote according to arecent poll, so
Republicans may enter the general election deflated and divided rather than
united.

If Kentucky Republicans want to win, they could learn from their neighbors in
Virginia. Just two years ago, the Virginia GOP used ranked choice votingto
nominate Glenn Youngkin for Governor, Winsome Sears for Lieutenant Governor, and
Jason Miyares for Attorney General. Republicans went on to sweep all three
offices (despite not winning a single statewide contest since 2009), and flipped
the House of Delegates on the coattails of Youngkin, Sears, and Miyares as well.

RCV works so well in primaries because it changes the incentives. Candidates
need a broad coalition to win, not just a narrow base of 25 or 30 percent. They
don’t attack their opponents as much – because doing so could hurt their chance
to win second- and third-choice support. Voters keep looking at possible
candidates to support even after they’ve picked out their top choice.

GOP strategists in Virginia have written extensivelyabout how ranked choice
voting primaries helped unify and enthuse their party in 2021. The data backs up
their analysis: Candidates nominated with majority support tend toperform better
in general elections, and candidates nominated with RCV enter general elections
withhigher favorability ratings.
PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRATS’ PRIMARY PROBLEM

Crowded primaries aren’t just a Republican problem, of course. On the same day
that Kentucky Republicans will nominate their gubernatorial candidate,
Philadelphia Democrats will nominate their mayoral candidate from an
eight-candidate field.

Leading candidate Rebecca Rhynhart is polling at just 19%. A recent poll by
FairVote and SurveyUSA finds that if the city used RCV, Rhynhart would likely
enter the general election in a stronger position, with 55 percent of voters
ranking her above her closest challenger. Of course, this isn’t just about
Rhynhart – it would hold true for any candidate winning a majority head-to-head
against their closest challenger, instead of just two or three out of every ten
Philly Democratic voters.

In such a deep-blue city, Democrats aren’t in danger of losing even after a
divisive primary, but a more positive RCV primary would still benefit the party
(and the winning candidate). The winner would enter office with a clearer
mandate to lead, and could even have a higher favorability rating among
Philadelphia voters. It’s no wonder nearly allof the mayoral candidates support
bringing RCV to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection!
At a time of deep division and plurality wins, the case for RCV has never been
clearer. With your help, we can win adoption of RCV everywhere in the country.
Track the latest on progress in state legislatures and on the ballot at our Get
Involved page.

Best,
Rob Richie
President Donate Today Copyright © 2023 FairVote, All rights reserved.

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