Friend --

First, we hope you saw the New York Times Editorial:“The Primaries Are Just Dumb” <[link removed]>from Wednesday, which makes the case for using ranked choice voting in presidential primaries.

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We've been driving RCV’s momentum: Appearing on national television, writing op-ed's for Salon <[link removed]> and The Washington Post <[link removed]> on how RCV could avoid chaos at a brokered Democratic convention, and helping states get ready for historic presidential primaries that will use RCV. We hope you’re keeping up with us through Twitter <[link removed]>, Facebook <[link removed]> and our blog <[link removed]>. 

Last week, all eyes were on Nevada as Democratic voters were able to vote early using ranked choice voting rather than having to show up in-person to caucus. Voter turnout in Nevada surged by more than 25% over 2016. Amazingly, more than two-thirds of all voters elected to vote early with the RCV ballot.  Sure, we’re biased -- but agree with this Vox piece that RCV was one of the big winners in Nevada: “3 Winners and 2 Losers from the Nevada caucuses <[link removed]>”. 

We spoke about ranked choice voting on CNN, the Young Turks <[link removed]>, Cheddar, <[link removed]>Soledad O’Brien’s Matter of Fact <[link removed]> and we expect more coverage after the South Carolina primaries tomorrow. Keep an eye also on former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, now a CNN analyst, as he did an excellent job explaining the value of RCV <[link removed]> to his new colleagues last weekend.

We just released a National Ranked Choice Voting poll leading up to Super Tuesday:

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Our latest national poll <[link removed]>with SurveyUSA ahead of Super Tuesday. Once again, we partnered with Vox <[link removed]>, and showcased the data with a trailblazing interactive tool allowing users to simulate RCV, head-to-head comparisons and much more. It’s a lot of fun; go on over there and try it out!

Featured findings include:

- Sanders leads Biden in the final round of a ranked choice voting tally 51% - 49%. National first choice results show Sanders leading with 28%, followed by Biden and Bloomberg at 21%, with all other candidates trailing with less than 10%.


- Head-to-head, Sanders has a large advantageover all other candidates. Only Sanders (62%) and Biden (59%) are ranked in the top three by over half of voters. Bloomberg and Warren are the only other candidates ranked in the top four by more than half of voters.


- Voters generally see their first choice as most electable against Trump. Democratic voters are most optimistic about Sanders’ chances, with respondents assigning him an average 49% chance to beat Trump in a hypothetical general election.


- Voters are ready for ranked choice voting for presidential primaries: 64% approve, and only 20% disapprove, with steady support across all demographics.

We are providing ranked choice voting education to Democratic primary voters in Wyoming, Alaska, Kansas and Hawaii: 

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This is all exciting news as we move forward on providing trainings, hosting events and supplying voters education materials to Democratic voters in Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas and Wyoming, where there will be party-run ranked choice voting presidential primaries taking place.  

Ranked choice voting offers a solution that allows voters more power and freedom to rank their choices on the ballot, casting meaningful votes that produce a broadly supported nominee worthy of representing the party in the general election. Learn more by visiting our Presidential Primaries Voter education page. <[link removed]>

In other news:

- Yesterday, U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet <[link removed]> (D-Colo.) and Angus King (I-Maine), along with U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), introduced The Voter Choice Act to support local and state governments that choose to transition to a ranked choice voting (RCV) model for elections. The Voter Choice Act provides $40 million in federal grants to cover up to 50 percent of the cost for local and state governments that voluntarily choose to transition to RCV.


- In the latest indications that states and cities are busy as laboratories for democracy for ranked choice voting, Virginia’s legislature has sent two excellent ranked choice voting local option bills <[link removed]> to the governor’s desk, while Maine’s largest city of Portland is voting on Tuesday to extend RCV  <[link removed]>for all city offices.


- Our senior fellow David Daley has a new book coming out this month: Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy. <[link removed]> It’s already been a big year for books advancing our reform vision, including Lee Drutman’s Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop <[link removed]>, Neal Simon’s Contract to Unite America <[link removed]> and Edward Foley’s Presidential Elections and Majority Rule. <[link removed]>

Ranked choice voting is having its moment and we are excited for the possibilities of how this reform can improve participation, give more choices and power to voters as well as bring more civility into the political process so that we elect leaders who can work to solve our countries more pressing issues. 


Thanks for your support!

FairVote team
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