Dear John,

A huge THANK YOU to all of you for showing Minnesota legislators the overwhelming support for Ranked Choice Voting at the hearing today! We are building momentum and a movement for a stronger, more just democracy, and your voice is key.

Truly amazing. In just a short period of time, hundreds of Minnesotans submitted testimony and contacted committee members in support of RCV Bill HF 89: Business leaders, teachers, city council members, attorneys and at least one leading infectious disease epidemiologist. If you want to be inspired, we encourage you to read some of the testimony here: https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/Committees/Home/92010. This tremendous display of grassroots support is critical in helping to advance RCV statewide. Your voice matters and is making a difference.

As Executive Director Jeanne Massey testified, RCV is “the reform that can put the biggest dent in the division, polarization and disinformation that is undermining our democracy. It is incumbent on all of us as voters and state leaders to take positive, concrete steps to respond.”

While the hearing was a great first step, we still need to push for a vote in committee to keep the bill moving forward. And for that reason, we need you to continue advocating for the bill by taking the following actions:

1. Thank members of the Local Government Division for holding the hearing and getting the statewide RCV bill moving;
2. If you haven’t already, contact YOUR legislator – urge them to support RCV Bill HF 89 and help advance the bill this session.

We know this reform is proven and has so much potential to not only strengthen our democracy but to also bring in new and diverse voices into the political process. As committee member and democracy champion Rep. Liz Boldon said during the hearing, "I see this as a democracy issue and as an equity issue... This is a way to bring more voices into the process and that's exactly what we should be doing."

A special thank you to ALL the committee members, and a special thanks to our bill authors on the committee: Representatives Steve Elkins, John Huot, Liz Boldon and Kaela Berg. And thank you to Rep. Bjorn Olson for being open-minded about a conversation on RCV! When people really listen and understand RCV, it turns out they like it!

Finally, we were overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from all of you who contacted the committee and submitted letters of testimony.  THANK YOU to all of you!

We appreciate your patience and persistence with the legislative process (and number of emails coming from FairVote MN!), and will keep you updated on next steps as we continue to push for a vote of this critical and historical legislation.
 

Thank you!,

Your FairVote MN Team