The League of Women Voters of Piedmont continued its Defending Democracy Speaker Series on February 10, 2022 with a discussion on
Ranked Choice Voting and the Fair Representation Act with Rob Richie, president and CEO of
FairVote. The upcoming events in this series include
Election Law and the Supreme Court with Erwin Chemerinsky on Mar 1st,
International Perspective on US Democracy with Dr. Fiona Hill on Mar 30th,
Election Subversion and Disinformation with Rick Hasen on April 5th, and a more California centered event on getting out the vote in the Central Valley with
Fonda Karelitz & Shannon Edwards of Central Valley Matters on April 27th. The series is cosponsored by Leagues across the country in Collier County, Florida; Gunnison Valley, Colorado; Oakland, California; The Pikes Peak Region, Colorado; Portland, Oregon; Pueblo, Colorado; Santa Barbara, California; and Solano County, California.
Ranked Choice Voting is the most popular, new, growing election reform in the country and it has garnered bipartisan support. Over 50 cities are currently using it as well as two states and numerous presidential primary elections. Visit the
FairVote website to learn more about who is using Ranked Choice Voting and for what elections.
Richie opened the discussion with some background information about why election reforms like Ranked Choice Voting and the Fair Representation Act are so desperately needed. The polarization and deterioration of our national politics is rooted in how we vote. Providing elections that give the voters a stronger voice in their representation makes for more responsive representatives and a more engaged electorate.
The Fair Representation Act shifts elections away from the single district, winner-takes-all paradigm and toward a more representative model. With larger districts where at least three representatives are elected using Ranked Choice Voting, the representatives are more likely to mirror the party and demographics of the electorate. As John Adams said of the Representative Assembly, "[i]t should be in miniature, an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason, and act like them."
There are many suggestions for election reforms and none is perfect. FairVote has settled on Ranked Choice Voting as the best system to support because it works in practice. Voters use it as intended and it causes changes in candidates' behavior because they now have a reason to engage with more voters. There is
data from the elections that have been run using Ranked Choice Voting to support this understanding.
To learn more about Ranked Choice Voting and the Fair Representation Act, please watch the video of this presentation on our YouTube channel.