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Ranked choice voting, an alternative ballot method, has been under attack by the press. Unlike the traditional “pick one” ballot used in most U.S. elections, ranked choice ballots allow voters to rank the candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gets a majority of first preference choices and a voter's first choice comes in last, their candidate is eliminated in an automatic round of runoff and their second choice will be be counted in the runoff round. This process iterates down the

Ranked choice voting, an alternative ballot method, has been under attack by the press. Unlike the traditional “pick one” ballot used in most U.S. elections, ranked choice ballots allow voters to rank the candidates in order of preference.

When a Facebook post launched a mass movement to stop self-serving legislators from drawing their own districts in Michigan in 2018, organizers knew they would face stiff opposition from incumbents benefitting from the status quo. What they didn’t expect was a campaign against more competitive elections backed by an organization allegedly dedicated to competition, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. The same year the Missouri Chamber of Commerce funded the campaign against the Clean Missouri Act,

There is one important truth about the state of US politics, and that is an increasing number of Americans understand that the system is rigged to put the interests of two private political parties and special interests first. The political establishment knows it. The media knows it. But, they don’t want the people to know it. They don’t want people to know that there are literally hundreds of organizations across the country working to unrig our political duopoly. They don’t want you to kno

The Supreme Court’s decision to punt on partisan gerrymandering (RUCHO ET AL. v. COMMON CAUSE ET AL.) was discouraging for many in the electoral reform movement, but really should not have come as a surprise. The recent Court has given broad latitude to the Constitution’s granting to state legislatures control of state election law. And with this ruling, the Court made clear that the majority believes partisan gerrymandering - no matter how exclusionary, unfair, or anti-democratic - is a politic

The biggest story happening right now nationwide that is not getting any attention from the mainstream media are the campaigns, ballot proposals, signature drives, and legislative efforts going on RIGHT NOW to give voters an election system that protects their right to a meaningful and equal vote in the taxpayer-funded election process -- from the primary to the general election. I’ve covered 10 of the biggest reform organizations to watch in 2020, whose mission it is to give voters a better el

Everyday, we hear from another candidate that if only we elect them, they will unite the country and solve our problems. But there’s a bigger reason why only 9% have confidence in Congress. It is because our election system incentivizes partisanship by making candidates, regardless of party, accountable to the voters in their party, not to the electorate in general. So, unless a candidate is going to unrig the system, calls for unity are just empty rhetoric. That’s one reason why the Indepen

With politics in a permanent state of chaos, we might have to look outside the political sphere to be grounded politically. At least I do. Sports is a good place to turn -- real sports, not the blood sport of partisanship and governance. Like a lot of people, I spent my Sunday night glued to the television. Not to watch 60 Minutes and its pompous narrative of “what Americans should be concerned about.” Heaven forbid. But to watch the women’s basketball teams of Notre Dame and Baylor battle it o

A Roadmap to A Better Democracy By: Wes Messamore Reform activists from around the country gathered in the Country Music Capital of the World –– Nashville, Tennessee –– over the last weekend in March to celebrate an absolute tidal wave of policy victories in 2018; listen to inspirational speeches; share and learn the nuts and bolts of policy reform; and even to air fierce differences of opinion over the best way to reform elections in America and over other areas of public policy. How they buz

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. And once we put it all together, it’ll be news you can use — an easy way to join the Second American Revolution, now in progress. First, the bad news: You are being violated by your own government. Hustled and conned. We all are. Our voices and our votes. Our tax dollars, too. On a piece of parchment that birthed this country, our founders emphasized that lawmakers would derive “their just Powers from the consent of the governed.” That’s us. But those