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This week’s featured 2019 Democracy Champion: U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland)
Please join us for our annual Champions of Democracy celebration in Washington, D.C. on Monday, November 18 at 6:30 p.m—in person or live streamed on Facebook. This is a time of great promise for ranked choice voting and electoral reform, and we will recognize some of the dedicated change-makers helping transform our democracy.
This year's champions include tireless redistricting activists, influential academics, and even a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. We will honor U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD); Nirvana bassist and FairVore board chair Krist Novoselic; Harvard University professor and political theorist Danielle Allen; Virginia redistricting advocates One Virginia 2021; as well as state and city achievements by FairVote Washington, and courageous, forward-looking public officials in New York City and Utah.
Our featured honoree this week
is U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, who earns a 2019 Democracy Champion Award
for national impact. Jamie is our first-ever repeat winner, having
earned an award a decade ago for his leadership on democracy issues in
the Maryland state legislature. Now in just his second term in the
U.S. House, Raskin has become one of the nation’s most prominent
voices on electoral reform and democracy issues, working tirelessly to
make our elections fairer, stronger, and more positive.
This year, Jamie
introduced the Ranked Choice Voting Act, which would require states to use RCV in
primary and general elections for Congress beginning in 2022. He’s
also a co-sponsor of the Fair Representation Act, which would combine
RCV with multi-member House districts to ensure all citizens are heard
in the electoral process and that every district has a meaningful,
competitive race for the people’s House.
In addition, Jamie was the architect of an amendment to two pieces of pro-democracy legislation that passed the U.S. House that would establish that all new voting equipment purchased with federal dollars would need to come ready to run RCV elections—a sensible requirement for a reform moving so quickly. He also has been outspoken in the media, including making an early call in the Hill for a change that is now will happen in several states: using RCV in presidential primaries in 2020. It’s a tremendous thrill to watch this former FairVote board member rise into the Democratic leadership.
Please come celebrate with us at this special event, which will be held in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. Get your tickets here. We look forward to seeing you once again, and appreciate your support throughout the years. If you can’t make it to the event but would like to signal your support, we welcome your donation.
Thank you!
Rob Richie
President and
CEO of FairVote
http://www.fairvote.org/
