Hi Friend,
If you’re like me, you’ve been glued to the news surrounding the Olympic games about the Russian figure skater who tested positive for banned substances. Her situation in the games has had me thinking a lot about fairness.
I mean, imagine if the figure skaters or their coaches got to make the rules themselves about who could participate and how. They’d rig the system to lessen competition for themselves. Imagine if athletes from a single country got to decide who the judges were that determined the winner for all of the athletes. They’d choose their fellow countrymen who would tip the scales in their favor.
It’s a ridiculous notion, and it would be massively unfair. Instead of the best athletes in the world with the medals at the end, we’d end up with sub-par, uninspiring victors. Of course, that’s not how the Olympics work. It is, however, not unlike how the American political system works — or should I say, doesn’t work?
But let’s turn our attention back to the matter at hand: Here are three things to think about this week.
In Texas, a federal judge has temporarily halted part of a new law that prohibits officials from promoting voting at home as a method of voting, even when voters match Texas’s criteria to do so. Citing freedom of speech, the judge’s actions temporarily provide reprieve for some county clerks who feel they have been prevented from providing answers and solutions to voters in need of assistance.
It’s a situation that we’re likely to see played out across the country, as legislatures wrestle with addressing reasonable election security measures amidst fraudulent and unfounded claims of voter fraud. Increasingly, election administrators are facing the threat of serious criminal and civil charges for performing their jobs, undercutting the integrity and security of our elections.
Do you ever feel that the two major parties just don’t represent you? Washington Post writer Matt Bai wants you to know that you’re not alone. In an essay this week, Bai is adamant in calling out both Republicans' “celebrity fan-club” inclination, as well as Democrats’ chilling habit of controlling the limits and terms of debate.
An exacerbating culprit of the extremism? Partisan primaries, which Bei calls “antiquated” in their appeal to “an ever-winnowing group of fervent believers in both parties.” Read his piece here.
Finally, a salve for your weary minds. From NYU Law professor Richard Pildes, read why “More Places Should Do What Alaska Did to Its Elections”. What did Alaska do, exactly? In 2020, they adopted Ballot Measure 2, to make the system work for all voters. They created a single nonpartisan primary in which every voter can vote and be heard. This ensures members of Congress have to answer to all voters, not just a narrow subset. It also instituted the use of ranked choice voting in the general election, so that instead of electing a candidate who appeals to just a plurality of voters (i.e. not the majority of all voters), Alaska will now elect a candidate who has the most broad appeal.
As Pilde points out, it’s an adept way of ensuring that vocal minorities can’t win by default, (what we at Unite America like to call the Primary Problem) and as such, it reduces the level of polarization and extremism in our politics. Alaska’s election system shows other states the path forward to better representation and more functional government. Check it out here.
Brett
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Brett Maney
Senior Communications Manager
Unite America
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