The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York is a tremendous step forward for state-led voting reforms, but it is just the beginning. Without comprehensive national voter protections, states must take initiative and write their own protections into law. We encourage state governments to adopt their own versions of the Voting Rights Act.

When most people think of ‘ranked choice voting’ (RCV), they think of single-winner ranked choice voting, where once the votes are tabulated, only one candidate wins. However, there is a form of ranked choice voting wherein multiple candidates can win who reflect the ideological makeup of the community. This is called ‘proportional ranked choice voting’ (or ‘single transferable vote’ abroad). This visual explainer goes over how proportional ranked choice voting works.

The Supreme Court claimed there was insufficient evidence of a racial gap in voter registration and turnout to justify upholding Section 4 of the VRA and allowing Section 5 of the Act to remain effective. Nine years later, we now have sufficient evidence.

On Friday, June 17, Hawaii Governor David Ige signed Senate Bill 2162, which implements ranked choice voting (RCV) for special federal elections as well as for filling county council vacancies beginning in 2023.

On Saturday, June 11th Alaska made history by using its new electoral system for the first time. It features a top-four plurality open primary and a ranked choice voting (RCV) general election.

What I could not prepare for was my candidate dropping out of the race in between the time that I mailed in my absentee ballot and my state’s primary date. Come election day, my vote was wasted.

It’s no secret that confidence in democratic institutions like elections is low: 37% of voters do not feel confident that the results of an election reflect the will of the people. However, it’s possible the usual suspects (election fraud, ballot counting errors, etc.) are not to blame for this lack of trust.

This week, Our Maryland released their 2022 Gubernatorial Democratic Primary straw poll. For a distinctly competitive race, the Our Maryland poll aims to measure, in-depth, the distribution of support for the primary’s 10 Democratic candidates. Though the July 19 election will use a plurality voting system, Our Maryland’s poll will use ranked choice voting (RCV) to find the most popular winner among the primary candidates.

Despite the claim of free and fair elections, voter opinions are often unrepresented as a result of single-winner congressional districts. FairVote’s report highlights the projected disproportionate allocation of congressional seats that fails to reflect voter preferences.

Voters understand that political polarization threatens our country. This is what we can do about it.