Please "pardon" us ahead of a Thanksgiving week off at Unite America.
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Hi Friend,

 

Goooooood afternoon friends. 

 

This week, I’m grateful for bipartisan infrastructure bills and independent
redistricting commissions. I’m grateful for reformers across the country
pushing reforms to put voters first like ranked choice voting and nonpartisan
primaries. I’m grateful for you all, who take time each week to engage with
this newsletter and the thoughts, issues, and articles presented in it.

 

(Yes, our Thanksgiving Three Things is one week early and a day late, but
we’re taking next week off!)

We need you paying attention
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The attack at the capitol on January 6th was a horrifying attempted coup
staged right in front of our eyes.But it didn’t end there. The attack against
our democracy has continued over the last year — and will continue well into
2024. This week, the Guardian takes a deep dive into the ongoing attempt to
undermine election results, through the nomination and election of Big Lie
candidates and Trump loyalists. 


It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen in this country: more than loyalty to
party over country, it’s loyalty to an individual man over everything. If
Americans fall asleep at the wheel and allow conspiracy theorists to win
everything from County Clerk races to Secretary of State offices, there is a
very real possibility that we will watch our democracy crumble from the inside.
Read thefull piece here
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Why RCV is needed
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One of the many reasons we support ranked choice voting is because it gives
voters more power on the ballot to make their voices heard. In a special
election in Florida, the need for ranked choice voting was apparent after an
11-way primary was decided by justfive votes, the recount of which was
determined just this week. Five votes is a crazy margin, and the winner —
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — ended up winning just under  24% of votes cast.
Without a clear mandate, Cherfilus-McCormick is all but guaranteed to win the
election in the heavily Democratic district. 


As political strategist Marvin Randolph points out, under the current system,
the remaining 76% of voters are left silenced. With ranked choice voting, these
voters — the majority of voters — would get their second, third, fourth choices
counted, helping to ensure that the winner of the election is the one who is
actually supported by the majority of voters. Read hisfull piece here
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Deep dive into redistricting
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This week, the New York Times came out with an impressive deep dive into the
state of redistricting across the country. The upshot: it’s not going great.
Legislators have their hands in the proverbial cookie jar, drawing maps that
benefit their own reelection and their party more than voters.


It’s not a pretty sight. Before the election even happens — before the maps
are even fully adopted — we can predict with a high degree of accuracy which
party is going to have control of, not only the House of Representatives, but
of state legislatures across the country. To end the scourge of gerrymandering,
we have to make sure that every vote in every election matters, and makeour
voices heard
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Best,
Brett
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Brett Maney
Senior Communications Manager
Unite America
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