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Consider this voting method: “If, on the first ballot, no one candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, the candidate receiving the least number of votes shall be eliminated…balloting shall continue in this manner until one candidate receives a majority vote.” If this sounds like ranked-choice voting (RCV) to you, go to the head of the class. But this language is actually from The Rules of the Maine Republican Party. It’s how they elect their own officers. That’s why it’s odd that the

Ranked choice voting (RCV) opponents tried to repeal RCV for state primaries and non-presidential federal elections in Maine. They failed. They tried to have a federal court throw out RCV results in the 2018 general election. They failed. They tried to garner enough signatures for a people’s veto against RCV for presidential elections. They failed. Yet the motto of RCV opponents in Maine apparently is if at first you don’t succeed at overturning the will of the people, try, try, try, try, and

Editor's Note: Please see the corresponding number in the "Notes" for the source of the information. Introduction Now more than ever, police misconduct has rocketed to the forefront of our national conversation. Unfortunately, the current system has proven unequipped to handle this misconduct and hold police accountable for their actions. (1) After all, an outsized number of police officers who violate their duties are never tried for their offenses, and those who are fired often “police ho

Editor's Note: This op-ed originally appeared in The Fulcrum and has been republished with permission from the publisher. This is a call to people who love our country more than they hate their political opponents. It is our duty and our honor to put country before party. Voting in the usual manner this November will likely be difficult because of the coronavirus. As a result, many people are voicing concerns about the integrity of the presidential election. There is a huge amount of spin and

‍ The nonpartisan reform group FairVote released a new report Wednesday that examines the impact ranked choice voting had on the 4 Democratic presidential primaries and caucus that used ranked choice voting for the first time in 2020. The conclusion? Voters took advantage of RCV, made few errors, and turned out in much higher numbers. The Democratic Parties in Alaska, Wyoming, Kansas, and Hawaii transitioned from caucuses to all-mail RCV primaries, the combination resulting in a spike in turno

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - El movimiento nacional a favor de la reforma electoral Ranked Choice Voting (Votación por orden de preferencia) le faltó solo un voto en el cabildo de San Diego, para aparecer en la boleta de este noviembre. San Diego, la octava ciudad más grande del país está dividida en 9 distritos, cada distrito es representado por 1 regidor electo por votantes de ese distrito. Actualmente, el cabildo está compuesto por 6 demócratas, 2 republicanos y 1 independiente. La coalición de regi

‍SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – The national momentum for Top Four Ranked Choice Voting Reform fell one vote short of landing “Top4RCV” on the November ballot in the nation’s 8th largest City. San Diego, which identifies itself as “America’s Finest City,” has a 9 member City Council made up of 6 Democrats, 2 Republicans, and 1 independent. A nonpartisan coalition of Council members --Mark Kersey (NPP), Barbara Bry (D), Monica Montgomery (D), and Chris Cate (R) -- voted in favor of putting the reform measu

Nebraska, landlocked deep in America’s heartland, has paradoxically set itself apart as an anomaly in the US political ecosystem -- from the way it allocates presidential electors, to the makeup of its legislature, to how state policymakers are elected. Some reformers even look at it as a potential model for what a better representative democracy looks like, and it is because of the nonpartisan manner by which legislators are elected, and the impact that has had on the legislative process. “

The Maine Secretary of State reported Wednesday that the campaign to repeal ranked choice voting for presidential elections in Maine failed to get enough valid signatures: ‍ RCV advocates maintained that the people’s veto campaign was illegal to begin with since it targeted a bill, LD 1083, that had already become law. They also claimed that the campaign used out-of-state signature gatherers to collect signatures. The Maine Legislature passed LD 1083 with overwhelming majorities in 2019 to exp

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ Three months ago, Gov. Chris Sununu used his executive power to declare that fear of catching the coronavirus is a valid reason to vote by mail in the Sept. 8 primary and Nov. 3 general election. But on Friday he vetoed a measure that would have eliminated the excuse requirement and allowed all voters to cast ballots by mail indefinitely. Since March, 35 states