Jennifer Lawrence Warns Memphis Voters: "You're About to be Blindsided by Your Own Government"

image
Published: 18 Oct, 2018
Updated: 17 Oct, 2022
2 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnEzyyssU8A

Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence is warning Memphis voters not to be tricked at the ballot box. Local voters passed laws 10 years ago that implement ranked choice voting (aka instant runoff voting), increase accountability, and enact term limits. Now, Lawrence says, city officials are trying to overturn all of it.

The Save IRV Memphis campaign is calling on voters to say no to all 3 charter questions on the November ballot. The questions are:

I. “Shall the Charter of the City of Memphis, Tennessee be amended to provide no person shall be eligible to hold or to be elected to the office of Mayor or Memphis City Council if any such person has served at any time more than three consecutive four-year terms, except that service by persons elected or appointed to fill unexpired four-year term shall not be counted as a full four-year term?"

2. “Shall the Charter of the City of Memphis, Tennessee be amended to repeal Instant Runoff Voting and to restore the election procedure existing prior to the 2008 amendment for all city offices, and expressly retaining the 1991 federal ruling for persons elected to the Memphis City Council single districts?”

3. "Shall the Charter of the City of Memphis, Tennessee be amended to provide that in any municipal election held as required by law, the candidate receiving the largest number of votes shall be declared the winner, thereby eliminating run-off elections?”

Memphis voters may not know that term limits already exist for mayor and city council members, as it is not mentioned in the question. Under the current charter, term limits are set at two 4-year terms (8 years total). The proposed charter reform would increase this limit to 3 terms (12 years total).

Voters may also have forgotten about instant runoff voting, because in the 10 years since the referendum passed, it hasn't yet been implemented. In fact, it was expected to be implemented by the 2019 city elections.

Then, there is the question over eliminating runoff elections. What happens if instant runoff voting is not repealed, but runoff elections are? Would that also overturn instant runoff voting, as a key mechanism to the reform are instant and automatic runoffs should no candidate win a majority outright? And eliminating runoff elections means the candidate who wins doesn't need majority support.

IVP Donate

Save IRV Memphis filed an emergency petition to have the questions removed from the ballot, but the petition was denied by Chancery Court Chancellor Jim Kyle. Early voting has already begun in Memphis and thousands of votes have been mailed in.

Jennifer Lawrence is a on the board of RepresentUS, the largest anti-corruption organization in the country. Lawrence was also featured in an ad to protect ranked choice voting in Maine before the June primary election, and was featured in a recent ad in favor of anti-gerrymandering reform in Colorado.

Latest articles

CA capitol building dome with flags.
Why is CA Senator Mike McGuire Trying to Kill the Legal Cannabis Industry?
California’s legal cannabis industry is under mounting pressure, and in early June, state lawmakers and the governor appeared poised to help. A bill to freeze the state’s cannabis excise tax at 15% sailed through the State Assembly with a unanimous 74-0 vote. The governor’s office backed the plan. And legal cannabis businesses, still struggling to compete with unregulated sellers and mounting operating costs, saw a glimmer of hope....
03 Jul, 2025
-
7 min read
I voted buttons
After First RCV Election, Charlottesville Voters Back the Reform: 'They Get It, They Like It, They Want to Do It Again'
A new survey out of Charlottesville, Virginia, shows overwhelming support for ranked choice voting (RCV) following the city’s first use of the system in its June Democratic primary for City Council. Conducted one week after the election, the results found that nearly 90% of respondents support continued use of RCV....
03 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Crowd in Time Square.
NYC Exit Survey: 96% of Voters Understood Their Ranked Choice Ballots
An exit poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the nonprofit better elections group FairVote finds that ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to be supported by a vast majority of voters who find it simple, fair, and easy to use. The findings come in the wake of the city’s third use of RCV in its June 2025 primary elections....
01 Jul, 2025
-
6 min read