Happy Independence Day!
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Hi Friend,
Happy (belated) July 4th! I hope you had a great weekend and time off
celebrating Independence Day. It’s a great time of year to not only reflect on
the progress we’ve made as a nation since our founding, but also recognize that
it’s our patriotic duty to make America stronger. That’s what we do at Unite
America: put country over party to protect and improve our democracy so that it
truly puts the people first.
In recognition of the 4th of July, our partners at Veterans for Political
Innovation <[link removed]> (VPI) are looking for volunteers! VPI is a
nonpartisan movement led by military veterans and military spouses to replace
our highly-partisan elections with more competitive systems that are fully open
to registered independents. Nearly half of veterans identify as independent or
unaffiliated voters. Like us, VPI’s goal is a government that is responsive to
the reasonable majority of Americans who know our system today is broken. Learn
more about how to get involvedhere <[link removed]>.
A historic win in Oregon
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Another state is making moves to tackle the Primary Problem
<[link removed]>. After the longest lawmaker walkout
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in state history, the Oregon Legislature passed a bipartisan bill that puts a
statewide ranked choice voting (RCV) proposal on the ballot in 2024. That means
Oregon voters will have the final say on whether the state adopts RCV — also
called instant runoff voting (IRV) — for statewide and federal offices.
While many in-state groups deserve immense credit, we want to shout out our
grantee in this effort —Oregon RCV <[link removed]> — for
running a sophisticated, winning campaign. The campaign included a coalition of
30-plus organizations, led by theCoalition of Communities of Color
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mobilized thousands of Oregon voters in support of the bill. This victory also
would not have been possible withoutOregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield
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this bill and ensured it got over the finish line in the final days of the
legislative session.
So… how would IRV improve Oregon’s politics? While we at Unite America
prioritize supporting campaigns to pass nonpartisan primaries as the main
solution to thePrimary Problem, IRV also has a role to play. By ensuring
candidates have to win a majority in primary and general elections, it
liberates Oregon’s elected officials to cater to the majority rather than being
held hostage by the partisan extremes. IRV also eliminates the pesky “spoiler
effect”. Voters can express their true preferences between candidates without
fear they might be wasting their vote. This improved system will result in
elected officials who better represent their constituents because they’ll be
more incentivized to work on solutions that more voters support. If Oregon
voters pass the measure in 2024, the state would join a growing list of states
includingAlaska
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,California
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,Louisiana
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, andWashington
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who are tackling thePrimary Problem.
Check out our Tweet thread
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Supreme Court rejects fringe election theory (for now)
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In a case election reform advocates were watching closely, the U.S. Supreme
Court issued its decision inMoore v. Harper
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last week. While the specifics of the case are extremely technical, the main
takeaway is that the Court rejected a fringe theory called the Independent
State Legislature Theory (ISLT). If the justices had embraced ISLT inMoore, it
would have meant that North Carolina’s Legislature could gerrymander voting
districts to their heart's content. And state courts wouldn’t have the
authority to prevent them from doing so.
But this case was about more than just gerrymandering. Fundamentally, it was
about checks and balances. An extreme interpretation of ISLT would have given
state legislatures unchecked power overall election rules related to federal
elections. That would threaten ranked choice voting, anti-gerrymandering, vote
at home, and any law passed by the voters. Our partners at RepresentUs released
areport
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last year showing that more than 200 state rules could be at risk. That’s why
we, along with many around the country, are breathing a sigh of relief. This
likely isn’t the end of ISLT, but this ruling was certainly a victory in the
short term.
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Like Alabama, Louisiana may have to redraw its congressional maps
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In more Supreme Court news, the justices did not intervene
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in a case that may result in Louisiana having to redraw its congressional map.
Last year, a Louisiana judge ruled that the map likely violated the Voting
Rights Act because it was gerrymandered to dilute the power of Black voters.
Sound familiar? The Court made asimilar judgment
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congressional map last month.
This case is a reminder that ending gerrymandering is a key way we can fix our
democracy. In the 2022 midterm elections, Republicanswon
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the six congressional seats (83%), despite the fact that nearly 40% of
registered voters in the state are Democrats. It’s clear that Louisiana should
implement anindependent redistricting commission
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so voters get better representation.
One final note: New York City — the most populous city in the country — held
its second citywide ranked choice voting election. There wasn’t a high-profile
mayor’s race like in 2021, but NYC voters used the improved voting system
successfully in primary elections for city council.Read more here
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.
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Regards,
Ross
__
Ross Sherman
Press Director, Unite America
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