In other news, I work for a voting rights organization and I'm not sure *I*
would wait seven hours to vote
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Hi Friend,
Happy March! We’re five days into the month and already my head is spinning.
We’ve got a big post-Super Tuesday Three Things for you, so let’s get right to
it. Here are this week’s Three Things to think about.
14 states voted, 1 MILLION votes were wasted.
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One person, one vote. Makes sense, right? But what if the candidate you voted
for dropped out after you turned in your ballot? That was the situation that
more thana million Americans found themselves in after the primary election in
South Carolina Saturday. Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropped out within 24
hours of each other, and less than 72 hours before than 14 states formally went
to the polls for Super Tuesday.
Across the country, more than a million voters had already voted early or
absentee. If they voted for Klobuchar or Buttiegieg, their votes were
effectively wasted with no recourse to have their voices heard.
It’s an unfortunate side-effect of the volatile primary season -- but one with
a simple solution: ranked choice voting. As our own Tyler Fisher explains this
week, by instituting ranked choice voting in our elections, we can enfranchise
more voters with election results that are more reflective of voter preference.
Even if your favorite candidate drops out, RCV ensures that your voice will
still be heard on Election Day.
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Would you wait SEVEN hours to vote?
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That’s exactly what one man in Texas had to do, waiting until 1 AM to finally
cast his vote. While we should all applaud this man’s commitment to voting,
that he was made to wait at all should be a serious concern for those who want
to make our system more representative.
Whether it was faulty machines in LA, closed polling places around Houston, or
the devastating tornado that hit Nashville, voting simply wasn’t possible for
many in Super Tuesday states yesterday. We simply can’t have representative
elections if huge swaths of the population are being discouraged from voting.
Not everyone can wait seven hours in line, even if they wanted to. (It’s worth
noting that the Texas voter was late to his night shift as a result).
Instead, we need to be instituting reforms that can make voting more
accessible, more convenient, and more secure. It’s why we supportvote by mail
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to simply drop off their ballot on election day, without having to wait in line.
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All of America is watching Virginia
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Virginia legislators are in the final days of their legislative session, and
have yet to approve the bipartisan legislation to create a constitutional
amendment establishing independent redistricting in the state.
This week, legislators in the bipartisan Commonwealth Caucus wrote an opinion
piece for the Washington Post calling on their colleagues to pass the
legislation. “The constitutional amendment and redistricting commission would
establish the clearest, fairest and least political mechanism for drawing fair
districts in Virginia’s 400-year legislative history,” they write.
The time is now. If Virginians want a shot at fair maps ahead of the 2021
redistricting, legislators must pass the amendment. A constitutional amendment
is the only way to ensure that future politicians don’t interfere with
Virginians right to a fair vote.
Tell Virginia legislators to act NOW. <[link removed]>
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Brett
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Brett Maney
Senior Communications Manager
Unite America
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