What’s happening in Democracy today: November roundup

Ranked Choice Voting
Voter turnout surprises Twin Cities poll watchers, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
Voting was heavier than expected in recent Minneapolis and St. Paul elections, nearly 12,000 Minneapolis voters casted their ballots early (a dramatic increase from 2013).
Minneapolis Candidates Report Positive Impact of Ranked-Choice Voting Process, KSTP ABC News (St. Paul, MN)
Candidates in Minneapolis had positive things to say about the ranked-choice voting process in the city. Several candidates in Minneapolis agreed that RCV changed the way they ran their campaigns.
Minneapolis winners, and some losers, praise ranked choice voting, StarTribune (Minneapolis, MN) by Mark Vancleave
Check out this video of Minneapolis mayor-elect Jacob Frey and a handful of newly elected city officials praising ranked choice voting, joined by FairVote Minnesota.
Mpls. Declares Ranked Choice Voting A Success, CBS Minnesota
Turnout for this week’s election in Minneapolis is being called ‘off the charts’ for a municipal campaign. 43 percent of voters casted a ballot using ranked choice voting.
Get out the vote: Understanding ranked-choice elections, Journalist’s Resource (Harvard Kennedy School's, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy) by Chloe Reichel
Chloe Reichel writes about proportional representation and highlights ranked choice voting; what it is, the benefits, where it’s used and controversies.
Bill seeks to bring alternative voting method called ranked-choice voting to N.H. Concord Monitor (Concord, NH) by David Brooks
House Bill 1540 would allow voters in a race with more than two candidates seeking a single office to rank candidates.
Ranked-choice voting supporters to begin ‘people’s veto’ campaign today, Portland Press Herald (Portland, ME) by Kevin Miller
Advocates of ranked choice voting will be seeking signatures to overturn a bill that would delay and possibly repeal RCV. The campaign has 90 days from Monday to gather 61,123 signatures- If this works out, they could get 30,000-40,000 signatures today!
Campaign to restore Maine ranked-choice voting collects over half the signatures needed for people’s veto, Portland Press Herald by Peter McGuire
Ranked choice voting campaign volunteers collected approximately 32,000 signatures outside of the polls last Tuesday, if the campaigners are able to collect enough signatures, voters will use RCV in the June of 2018 primary.
Monopoly Politics 2018
MidPoint for October 26 – Fair Vote’s Drew Spencer Penrose and a look back at Jimmy Carter’s ‘malaise’ speech, 88.5 WMNF Radio (Tampa, FL)
Drew Penrose, Legal and Policy director at FairVote, broke down recent congressional elections and explains why Republicans are in good shape for midterm elections
Only A Wave Election Will Win House For Democrats, The National Memo by Steven Rosenfeld
Steven Rosenfeld writes about House races for 2018 and highlights FairVote’s Monopoly Politics Report.
The Fair Representation Act
How Congress Could Fix Redistricting- Without the Supreme Court, Ozy (Mountain View, CA) by Matt Laslo
Matt Laslo writes about the Supreme Court considering the Wisconsin case and understanding the problem of gerrymandering, highlights the Fair Representation Act and ranked choice voting.