Dear John,

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives expelled New York Rep. George Santos following a damning report by the House Ethics Committee. News outlets have highlighted Santos’s tumultuous tenure as proof that Congress is chaotic and vitriolic. But Santos isn’t the only, or the biggest, reason why.

Let’s take a look at this year in Congress by the numbers. We’ve had:

• 1 debt ceiling scare
• 2 government shutdown scares
• 2 members indicted
• 2 near-fistights
• 3 members censured
• 19 votes for speaker
• 38 retirements announced

And for all that, just 22 bills have been passed into law.

Why is Congress broken?

Congress is broken, in part, due to the incentives in our elections. Toxic partisan gerrymandering and our political geography are shifting more and more electoral competition to primaries, where members can often win with just 20 or 30 percent of the vote – a tiny fringe of their party. And when voters can only pick one choice, there’s little reason for candidates to reach out to anyone beyond their most committed supporters.

This year, those factors have resulted in a few House members – chosen by a fraction of a fraction of the electorate – holding Congress hostage for months at a time. Take this fall's House speaker crisis, created by just eight members – six of whom were first elected without even winning a majority of primary voters in their hyper-partisan districts! There’s never a good time for our government to be so dysfunctional, but with several international crises ongoing, right now is especially bad.

What can we do about it?

Thankfully, there are oven-ready reforms that can help fix Congress, and they’re gaining traction with voters, elected officials, and the media.

Ranked choice voting lets voters rank candidates in order of preference. This simple change ensures our elected leaders have broad public support, gives candidates a reason to reach out to more voters, and turns down the temperature of our elections. Voters supported RCV in all seven cities where it was on the ballot this year, and it has picked up recent endorsements from U.S. Senators Joe Manchin, Mitt Romney, and Lisa Murkowski, among others.

The Fair Representation Act would combine ranked choice voting with multi-member House districts – breaking the power of gerrymandering and shifting competition back to general elections where more voters can weigh in. This “gold standard” reform would ensure nearly every American can elect someone they support to Congress – giving better representation to urban Republicans, rural Democrats, communities of color, and everyone in between.

When a Democrat and Republican are both representing the same multi-member district, they might be more likely to work together and solve problems than throw (sometimes literal) punches. 

The Fair Representation Act just received a spotlight on NPR, and was previously endorsed by the New York Times.

We’re excited to continue advocating for both ranked choice voting and the Fair Representation Act in the new year. Thank you for supporting us in that effort.

Sincerely,
Ryan J. Suto
Interim Government Affairs Director and Senior Policy Advisor

P.S., Our Research and Policy Director Deb Otis was recently interviewed for Ballotpedia's On the Ballot podcast. Give it a listen when you have a chance!