The House of Representatives passed HR4. The bill would restore the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, empowering the Department of Justice to stop voter suppression laws before they go into effect.

An enthusiastic crowd of good government activists and conscientious citizens gathered in the Rayburn House Office Building this past Monday, November 18, to honor FairVote’s 2019 “Champions of Democracy.”

For elections to be fair and legitimate, voters must have meaningful choices. The United States Supreme Court has held that states cannot excessively restrict choices on the general election ballot, for example by imposing harsh signature gathering requirements. However, the Court has not yet clarified what limits exist and a new case from California may test the limit and provide further clarity.

Rarely has a policy debate so divided and paralyzed a nation as the issue of “Brexit” in the United Kingdom. In a 2016 national referendum, British voters narrowly approved leaving the European Union. The aftermath and turmoil ever since provides a case study in how such divisions are poorly handled by a plurality, single-choice voting system.

Wichita, Kansas just had its municipal elections, and no candidate received a majority of the votes. Ranked choice voting is an ideal solution to remedy this type of situation.

This past week represented a watershed moment for the ranked choice voting (RCV) movement, which was captured by comprehensive media coverage. Read more about it here.

On Election Day, Easthampton, MA became the latest city to pass ranked choice voting for its municipal elections. Voters in the city will use RCV in its mayoral and city council elections beginning in 2021.

In 2019, 11 cities in 8 states will use ranked choice voting to elect their local governments. In 2020, RCV is positioned for an even larger breakout year. Read about it here.

When it comes to elections to the House of Representatives, partisanship dominates. The fact that there are only six Democratic holdouts on impeachment prove that point. The Fair Representation Act, an antidote to this type of system, would lessen partisanship's chokehold on our government.

FairVote has filed an amicus curse brief in response to a challenge to the California Voting Rights Act.