Friend --
The 2020 elections earlier this month yielded the highest voter turnout in American history. Our political systems have become the focus of nearly all public conversation, driven by the clash between winner-take-all voting rules and a hyper-polarized political system. It’s increasingly clear that FairVote’s proposals for structural reform, including the Fair Representation Act and ranked choice voting, are imperative to create a government that is truly representative and functional.
Ranked choice voting had a remarkable 2020, positioning itself well for future expansion. On the ballot this year in 8 states and cities, RCV won in 7, including Alaska for all its major elections and the city of Portland, ME in March. It again shined in practice in the biggest elections in Maine and ten cities, was used in five Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses as well as three Republican state conventions, and earned editorial support 16 newspapers, including the Washington Post, Boston Globe and New York Times.
Here’s a rundown of wins and uses just this month:
1. State of Alaska passes ranked choice voting:
Alaska voters voted 50.6%-49.4% in favor of Ballot Measure 2, establishing ranked choice voting for presidential elections and all state and congressional races with a Top Four open primary. See FairVote's news release and the Alaskans for Better Elections website.
2. Boulder, Colorado passes ranked choice voting:
Boulder voters voted 78.1%-21.9% in favor of Ballot Measure 2E, establishing
direct election of their mayor directly with ranked choice voting. For
more information, visit the Our Mayor, Our Choice campaign.
3. Minnetonka, Minnesota
passes ranked choice voting:
Minnetonka voters voted 54.7%-45.3% in favor of the City Question, which folds the city's nonpartisan primary elections into a single general election held with ranked choice voting for mayor and city council. For more information, visit Ranked Choice Voting for Minnetonka.
4. Bloomington, Minnesota passes ranked choice voting:
Bloomington voters voted 51.2%-48.8% in favor of City Question 3, bringing the
total number of Minnesota cities using ranked choice voting up to
five. For more information, visit Ranked Choice Voting
Bloomington.
5. Albany, California passes
the proportional form of ranked choice voting:
Albany voters Measure BB 73.3% to 26.7% to enact proportional ranked choice voting
for citywide elections to the city council and school board. For more
information, visit the Voter Choice Albany campaign website.
6.
Eureka, California passes ranked choice voting:
Eureka approved Measure CC 61.5% to 38.5% to enact ranked choice voting for elections
to mayor and city council. For more information, visit the Ranked Choice Voting in
Eureka campaign
website.
A Massachusetts campaign for ranked choice voting fell short by 10 percentage points, but earned support from four out of every five voters under thirty and built a remarkable coalition that will keep advancing RCV in the state.
Here are highlights from another round of successful ranked choice voting elections:
- Maine became the first state to use RCV to determine presidential electors and again used it for its U.S. Senate election; Maine had the highest turnout in the nation among its voting age population.
- Benton County, Oregon used RCV for the first time for two county commissioners; in partisan elections that each drew three candidates; 99.9% of votes cast valid ballots, and far fewer voters skipped the contests than in 2016.
- Portland, Maine used RCV for the first time to elect city offices other than mayor; among winners in three instant runoffs was the city's first Indigenous council member.
- Overall, women won 18 out of 40 RCV contests this year.
- In San Francisco, two candidates endorsed each other in an effort to “fight for our Chinese American community,” contributing to the election of a Chinese American candidate.
- Voter turnout increased in 8 of the 9 RCV jurisdictions, part of a pattern dating back several years in RCV elections.
If you’re interested in hearing about what happened in the places that successfully passed RCV this election cycle, consider attending FairVote’s next webinar December 1: "The Future of American Elections: Ranked Choice Voting Won Big!"
Thank you for your continued support!
Onwards,
Rob
Richie
President and CEO,
FairVote
http://www.fairvote.org/
