Better Elections Are Possible
“Partisans’ chief interest is in proving that the other party is despicable — in ramping up fear, hatred and the negative polarization that is the central feature of contemporary American politics…
The good news is that we don’t have to live with this system. There’s nothing in the Constitution that says there have to be only two parties. There’s nothing in the Constitution about parties at all. There’s not even anything in the Constitution mandating that each congressional district have only one member and be represented by one party. We could have a much fairer and better system with the passage of a law.
The way to do that is through multimember districts and ranked-choice voting.”
— David Brooks in “One Reform to Save America”
New York Times
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Ranked Choice Voting
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The Problem
When voters feel like they have to choose between the lesser-of-two-evils, that's not real choice.
Our Solution
Ranked choice voting gives every voter a meaningful vote.
Quick Takes
FairVote's brief and timely commentary on the latest news.
2016 Popular Vote Numbers Updated
FairVote has updated its online popular vote spreadsheet for 2016 presidential primaries in the wake of the New York primary. Observations include: New York State GOP turnout is low; Ben Carson's votes won't count; Clinton widens lead over Sanders; and Trump has less than 38% of all votes cast.
Read MoreHow Alabama Can Avoid 2 Percent Turnout in Runoff Elections
Runoff elections are costly and lead to lower voter turnout. A better option for Alabama is to use ranked choice voting (also known as instant runoff voting) to ensure that all voters can participate in a high turnout, meaningful election. The good news for Alabama is they already have ranked choice voting (for overseas voters)!
Read MoreConversation Turns to Ranked Choice Voting for GOP Convention
Today, Matthew Dean Hindman writes for the Washington Post that instant runoff voting would be the "most fair, transparent and democratic manner possible," to select the eventual nominee. FairVote's second choice polling series has explored how instant runoff voting could improve not only the convention process, but also the individual primaries taking place in states and the public opinion polls used to gauge voter preferences.
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