ranked-choice voting Concepts

Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley

by Jacob Silverman · 9 Oct 2025 · 312pp · 103,645 words

.36 Both ballot measures passed. For the fall 2024 mayoral election, in which San Francisco’s voters would order several candidates as part of a ranked-choice voting system, tech leaders were divided. The ranked-choice system seemed to encourage disagreement, though it could also prove effective at neutering leftist mayoral candidates like

Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (And What We Can Do About It)

by William Poundstone · 5 Feb 2008

mathematician Warren D. Smith. "Only then can we proceed to the second round." San Francisco's election board was realistic enough to call its system "ranked-choice" voting, They didn't want people expecting an instant result. In the city's first IRV election, in November 2004, "software problems" were blamed for delaying

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the greatest possible number of seats for the party. Impossibility Theorem The foundation of modern voting theory. Economist Kenneth Arrow (b. 1921) demonstrated that no ranked-choice voting ,ystem can meet a set of commonsense conditions; therefore all such ways of voting are defective. The impossibility theorem has led some scholars to conclude

Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig · 14 Jul 2019 · 2,466pp · 668,761 words

proves that is impossible to achieve all of them (Arrow, 1951). Das– gupta and Maskin (2008) show that majority rule (not plurality rule, and not ranked choice voting) is the most robust voting system. The computational complexity of manipulating elections was first studied by Bartholdi et al. (1989). We have barely skimmed the

The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy

by Katherine M. Gehl and Michael E. Porter · 14 Sep 2020 · 627pp · 89,295 words

with nonpartisan open primaries that send the top five finishers to the general election, and (2) replaces plurality voting in the subsequent general elections with ranked-choice voting. (Don’t worry, this will all be clear—how it works, and its transformative power—when you get to chapter 5.) For legislative machinery, we

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Voting consists of two parts—open, single-ballot, nonpartisan primaries in which the top-five candidates qualify for the general elections (top-five primaries) and ranked-choice voting (RCV) in general elections. These two changes will dramatically impact the competitive nature of our Congressional elections by stripping away party control and ending the

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on a bipartisan landmark bill that violates party orthodoxy. The party-primary eye of the needle, through which no problem-solving politician can pass, disintegrates. Ranked-Choice Voting General Elections As we have discussed, plurality voting—and the resulting spoiler effect and wasted-vote arguments—is the greatest structural barrier to new competition

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sometimes creates the undemocratic situation in which a majority of voters do not support the winner. So, let’s get rid of it. We propose ranked-choice voting (RCV) in general elections. The idea is simple. Whereas plurality voting can elect candidates without majority support, RCV does the opposite. For candidates to win

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the candidate you like second best (Abigail Adams), third best (George Washington), fourth best (Thomas Jefferson), and fifth best (John Adams). FIGURE 5-2 Sample Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) Ballot This sample ballot shows how a voter might rank five theoretical candidates, with the first choice being Alexander Hamilton and the fifth choice

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in 2014 while again failing to win a majority.35 In response to this affront to the democratic principle of majority rule, reformers regularly proposed ranked-choice voting (RCV) legislation in the state assembly, but to no avail. In 2010, Maine’s Sun Journal lamented that “the ranked-choice system is an

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came out in support, writing in the New York Times, “It is fitting that Maine’s motto is ‘the way life should be.’ I believe ranked-choice voting represents what democracy will be. It’s a solution to the problem of how to uphold majority rule and give more voice to voters by

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twenty-six states in which direct democracy is an option, you can throw your support behind nonpartisan ballot measures to adopt top-five primaries and ranked-choice voting in general elections as soon as the next election cycle. If you live in one of the other twenty-four states, you can organize a

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2008. 9. This phrase, “more choice, more voice, better results” builds on the “more choice, more voice” slogan created by Maine’s successful campaign for ranked-choice voting. https://www.morevoice.org/. 10. As brilliantly described by Yascha Mounk in The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to

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a federal law. In the 115th Congress (2017–2018), Representative Donald Breyer of Virginia proposed a bill called the “Fair Representation Act” that would implement ranked-choice voting for all congressional races, and Representative John Delaney of Maryland introduced the “Open Our Democracy Act,” which would create top-two primaries in all congressional

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for Top Four Open Primary and three elections and to appropriate funds for that purpose.” This bill also includes a provision for the usage of ranked-choice voting in general elections. See https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H994v0.pdf. Senator Chris Rothfuss proposed a similar bill for Wyoming in

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January 2019. This bill proposed the use of ranked-choice voting in primary elections to select the top four candidates to move on to the general election. The bill also proposed using

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www.fairvoteca.org/. 34. Marina Villeneuve, “AP EXPLAINS: Maine Tries Ranked-Choice Voting,” U.S. News, June 11, 2018, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/maine/articles/2018-06-11/ap-explains-maine-tries-ranked-choice-voting. 35. Jessie Scanlon, “Could Maine’s New Ranked-Choice Voting Change American Elections?” Boston Globe Magazine, October 17, 2018, https://www

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.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2018/10/17/could-maine-new-ranked-choice-voting-change-american-elections/6VqNC73bQzMrPd0RSepA8L/story.html. 36. Editorial Board, “Ranked-Choice Voting Unlikely to Gain Traction in Maine,” Sun

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Journal, November 11, 2010, https://www.sunjournal.com/2010/11/11/ranked-choice-voting-unlikely-gain-traction-maine/. 37. “Spotlight: Maine,” FairVote, https://www.

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, “Maine’s Radical Democratic Experiment,” Politico Magazine, March 27, 2018, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/27/paul-lepage-maine-governor-ranked-choice-voting-217715. 42. “Timeline of Ranked Choice Voting in Maine,” FairVote, https://www.fairvote.org/maine_ballot_initiative. 43. Larry Diamond, “How to Reverse the Degradation of Our Politics,” American Interest

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/editorials/enoughs-enough/. 49. Dennis Hoey, “Oscar Winner Jennifer Lawrence Lends Support to Ranked-Choice Voting,” Press Herald, June 7, 2018, https://www.pressherald.com/2018/06/07/oscar-winner-jennifer-lawrence-lends-support-to-ranked-choice-voting/. 50. “Maine Question 1, Ranked-Choice Voting Delayed Enactment and Automatic Repeal Referendum (June 2018),” Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Question

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_1,_Ranked-Choice_Voting_Delayed_Enactment_and_Automatic_Repeal_Referendum_(June_2018). 51. Larry Diamond, “A New Age of

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Degradation of Our Politics.” 54. As of 2019, seven states—Maine, California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Mexico—contain cities that have already implemented ranked-choice voting for municipal elections. On top of this, another four states—Florida, Michigan, Oregon, and Tennessee—contain cities that have adopted but not yet implemented

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. In 2018, Utah passed a pilot program that allows municipalities to use ranked-choice voting for 2019 elections (participating cities: Cottonwood Heights, Lehi City, Payson City, Vineyard City, and West Jordan City). See, “Ranked Choice Voting,” Ballotpedia, accessed April 2019, https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)#Ranked_choice_voting_in_the_United_States. 55. Iowa and Nevada plan to allow early

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(see electoral innovation) parties’ division of voters in, during Gilded Age, 106–107 political affiliation of staff in, 32 presidential debate rules and, 41–43 ranked-choice voting benefits for, 128 spending on, 50, 187n40 voter-data shops and, 32 candidates African American, after the Civil War, 101 biased ballot access rules and

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election and, 101–102 immigration reform and, 73–74, 196nn11, 12, 14, 196n15, 196–197n18, 197n22 machinery of political system engineered by, 3 Maine’s ranked-choice voting and, 150, 152 newspapers backed by, 104, 109, 200n29 partisan takeover of Congress and, 55–59 as part of duopoly in politics industry, 7 percentage

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31 lack of accountability and, 72 large-dollar donors and, 26 legislative machinery and, 12, 41, 45, 118, 134 lobbyists used by, 33 Maine’s ranked-choice voting and, 153, 154, 155 paid advertising and, 29 party primaries and, 46, 49 Perot’s independent campaign and, 119 political-industrial complex and, 24, 38

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acceptance of only two choices in, 2 primaries in (see party primaries) Progressive Era reforms of, 98 public trust in government and, 70, 70 ranked-choice voting in (see ranked-choice voting) Reconstruction limits on black voters in, 101, 102 running as a supposed “outsider” within a party in, 36–37 third-party candidates in, 34

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-constituency coalition in, 159–160 guiding principles for, 156–157 legislative action in, 145 local leaders and state-based approach in, 158–159 Maine’s ranked-choice voting in, 128, 151–156 passing legislation for, 169–170 planning for pushback against, 160 redistricting reform in, 150, 158, 159 states and, 143–145 two

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, 75 incumbents electoral maps protecting, 148 ideological challenges against, 181n6 partisan primaries and lack of challengers to, 123 party affiliation and support for, 32, 184n22 ranked-choice voting (RCV) and, 155 reelection affecting votes of, 49, 88, 118, 125–126 term limits and, 214n72, 215n74 to get primaried or to primary and, 5

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, 202–203n55, 204n61, 205n67, 205–206n69, 206n72, 213n60 Madison, James, 87 Maine initiative process in primary elections in, 206n74 plurality voting in, 50, 51, 151 ranked-choice voting (RCV) in, 128, 151–156, 158, 160, 165, 182n9, 212n54 Maldonado, Abel, 149 Martin, Bradley and Cornelia, 96 Masket, Seth, 213–214n66, 214nn67, 68, 215n74

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Massachusetts Australian ballot in, 111, 204n61, 205n64 ranked-choice voting proposal in, 128 McCain, John, 73, 74, 127–128, 167, 196n15 McCarthy, Kevin, 124 McClure’s Magazine, 110 McCormick, Cara Brown, 151–152, 153, 154

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also newspapers; social media Medicare, 114 Merriam, Charles Edward, 205n66, 206n69 military-industrial complex, 37–38 Miller, Arthur, 30 Minnesota nonpartisan legislature in, 213–214n66 ranked-choice voting in, 212n54 Ventura’s election as governor of, 186n34 Minow, Newton, 188n3 Mississippi African American voter registration in, 101 sore-loser law in, 48 Mitchell

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, 210n6 Morgan, J. P., 99 Moss, David, 204n63 Mounk, Yascha, 196n10 MSNBC, 39 muckrakers, 109, 110 Mugwumps, 104 municipal elections Australian ballot in, 204n61, 206n74 ranked-choice voting in, 128, 212n54 Naismith, James, 44 National Basketball Association (NBA), 44 National Collegiate Athletic Association, 125 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, 87–88

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for, 10, 122 Gilded Age political parties and, 106 impact on democracy of, 51–52 Maine example of, 50–51, 151 political innovation and, 144 ranked-choice voting as replacement for, 126 spoiler effect in, 6, 50–51, 105, 126 wasted vote argument in, 52, 126, 130 political-industrial complex action seen as

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(PPIC), 211n29 Putnam, Robert, 203–204n59 Pyhrr, Peter, 135–136 quality-of-life recession, 80–82 Quincy, Josiah, 205n67 quota system, in immigration, 73, 196n11 ranked-choice voting (RCV), 126–128 benefits of, 128 cities using, 128 customer (voter) power in, 130 description of mechanics of, 126–127 Final-Five Voting proposal with

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plurality voting replaced by, 126 sample ballot in, 127 states’ adoption of, 128, 155, 212nn54, 55 State Senator Obama’s support for, 128 RCV. See ranked-choice voting Reagan, Ronald, 42, 85 Rebuild Congress Initiative, Harvard Negotiation Project, 215n79 Reconstruction, 101–102, 108 redistricting reform, 150, 158, 159 Reed, Sam, 210n9, 210n11 Reed

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election and, 101–102 immigration reform and, 73–74, 196nn11, 12, 14, 196n15, 196–197n18, 197n22 machinery of political system engineered by, 3 Maine’s ranked-choice voting and, 150, 152, 154 Mugwumps breaking away from, 104 newspapers backed by, 104, 109 partisan takeover of Congress and, 55–59 as part of duopoly

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in, 51, 187n45 Castle primary run in Delaware as example of, 46–48 direct democracy in, 112, 113 Final-Five Voting and, 133, 144–145 ranked-choice voting in, 128, 155, 212nn54, 55 Reconstruction limits on black voters in, 101, 102 sore-loser laws in, 35, 48–49, 121 state rules governing,

Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy

by Andrew Yang · 15 Nov 2021

book will present a small menu of important structural solutions, and we should push for all of them. One of them, electoral reform that establishes ranked-choice voting and open primaries across the country, I consider paramount. These electoral reforms are the skeleton key that will realign our leaders’ political incentives and make

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so much else possible. With ranked-choice voting, candidates would need to achieve majority support from all the voters in their district and not just the party primary voters. The duopoly would diminish

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same way that my name is now associated with universal basic income, it will soon be associated with ranked-choice voting and open primaries around the country as the lever that will enable dramatic new approaches. Ranked-choice voting will be the crucial change that unlocks us from stasis and polarization. Imagine being able to vote

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together, you realize how big the task is. Here’s the takeaway: the most impactful change that is easiest to make is the adoption of ranked-choice voting and open primaries. This can be done at the state level in many states with ballot initiatives that require as few as fourteen thousand signatures

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shift would be incumbents and political party insiders who right now control the process very tightly. The winners would be the voters and the public. RANKED-CHOICE VOTING “Now,” you might say after reading the passage above, “what if you have two Democrats and one Republican among the top five in the general

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gets the most votes wins. But the general election for each congressional seat, and virtually all of our elections moving forward, should be conducted via ranked-choice voting. Ranked-choice voting is simple: you rank the candidates in order of preference, 1 through 5. You do not have to rank them all: if you like only

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unflattering reasons, such as calling a journalist a “cocksucker” in a voice mail, voters in Maine had seen enough and adopted ranked-choice voting in 2016 via referendum. Let’s see how ranked-choice voting applied to the Maine 2018 congressional race. In 2018, there were four candidates in the Second Congressional District in the general

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voters. At this point Jared Golden cleared 50 percent of the vote and was declared the winner. Ranked-choice voting ensures that more than 50 percent of voters express a preference for their representative. The benefits of ranked-choice voting are profound. You don’t need to worry about any candidate being a spoiler. You can

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multiple opponents and people will notice if you start trashing your opponents. And it favors coalition building and reaching out to different types of constituents. Ranked-choice voting has been adopted in more than a dozen cities across the country in the last several years, most notably New York City, Minneapolis, and San

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Francisco. In addition to Maine, it was adopted statewide in Alaska in 2020. A study of seven cities using ranked-choice voting for municipal elections found that candidates focused more on issues than on attacking each other. It creates incentives where you’re trying to win over

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people than your opponents rather than tear anyone down. It is completely up to the states how to conduct their elections. When people realize what ranked-choice voting means, they love it. I have no doubt that it will sweep the country as soon as voters realize that we can upgrade from the

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an act of Congress. How do you get an institution to reform itself? The main lever that we can access without Congress is to get ranked-choice voting and open primaries in states across the country. As I’ve said, this, to me, is the skeleton key that could unlock our government from

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left or right; it’s Forward. If you want to solve these problems, welcome to the Forward Party. The Forward Party has six key principles: Ranked-Choice Voting and Open Primaries. Party primaries disenfranchise the majority of voters. In 80 percent of cases the general election is essentially a foreordained conclusion. Non-major

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candidates are regarded as a “waste” of a vote and can never compete. Candidates spend millions trashing their lone opponent, making us all more cynical. Ranked-choice voting better captures voters’ true preferences and enables a more dynamic and truly representative democracy while addressing all of these problems. It is the key to

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—an unclogging of the pipes. If you’d like to join the Forward Party, go to ForwardParty.com. The first major initiative will be getting ranked-choice voting in states around the country. Anyone who wants a more dynamic and truly representative democracy will be for it, so it should be all of

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us. As I’ve said, two states—Maine and Alaska—have already adopted ranked-choice voting, as have New York City, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and other cities around the country. Ranked-choice voting does not require legislation in two dozen states that have ballot initiatives at the state level. That means

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motivated citizens could adopt ranked-choice voting in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and

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more than $1.6 trillion a year. We could invest in universal basic income, a human-centered economy, local journalism, fact-based governance, smart policing, ranked-choice voting, technology in service of people, human dignity, grace, and tolerance. We could make the city I call home the antipoverty city. We launched the campaign

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votes had been mistakenly included. Despite the slow vote count and the headlines provoked by the Board of Elections’ incompetence, it quickly became clear that ranked-choice voting was having exactly the kind of impact its supporters had intended. While Kathryn Garcia trailed significantly in the initial round of first-choice votes on

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, a critical mass of voters ranked her as their second or third choice, which brought her to within about eight thousand votes of the lead. Ranked-choice voting had enabled people to express their preferences more accurately; according to an exit poll conducted by Edison Research, 77 percent of New York voters said

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they wanted to keep using ranked-choice voting in future elections and 95 percent found their ballot simple to complete. Still, even with a modest increase in turnout and the advent of

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ranked-choice voting, only about 11 percent of New Yorkers turned up for the primary and voted to select the person who would almost certainly be the next

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2018, there were four Steve Mistler and Domenico Montanaro, “Ranked-Choice Voting Delivers Democrats a House Seat,” NPR, Nov. 15, 2018. Ranked-choice voting has been adopted “Where Ranked Choice Voting Is Used,” FairVote, accessed March 1, 2021, www.fairvote.org/where_is_ranked_choice_voting_used. A study of seven cities “Data on Ranked Choice Voting,” FairVote, accessed March 1, 2021, www.fairvote.org

They Don't Represent Us: Reclaiming Our Democracy

by Lawrence Lessig · 5 Nov 2019 · 404pp · 115,108 words

would have five members of Congress. Each voter could rank up to five candidates running within that district. The winner would be chosen through a “ranked-choice voting” (RCV) system. If there are more than five candidates running, then the candidate getting the least votes gets dumped first. The second choices of the

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in Congress. There are conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans. Safe-seat gerrymandering with single-member districts drives both out of the system. Multimember districts with ranked-choice voting would give them a real chance to compete. That’s the ideal. Yet even without multimember districts, we can better craft districts that achieve representativeness

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results from someone closer to a majority to one who is not. The answer to this problem is precisely the answer that Maine gave—again, ranked-choice voting. In 2018, after almost eight years with a governor who was elected because of the effect of third-party candidates, Maine adopted a system that

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Golden jumped ahead of the incumbent with 50.5 percent of the vote. Across the country in 2018, had every district used ranked-choice voting, five other districts would have triggered a ranked-choice vote, with four likely going Republican, and one we can’t say for certain. Six districts out of 435 may make the

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will be more competitive, and third parties will have a stronger interest in participating. That means there will be more multiparty contests. Which means without ranked-choice voting, there would be more plurality winners. More candidates competing is a good thing, not bad. More parties competing would be a good thing, not bad

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to try to satisfy the demands of those third parties, as the candidates vie to be the second-choice votes of those third-party candidates. Ranked-choice voting thus both encourages more diversity and reinforces the idea of majoritarianism. What about primaries? Shouldn’t primaries also be eliminated, if we’re to eliminate

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fundamentally upset the Jeffersonian model that I described in chapter 1. If there isn’t ranked-choice voting at the state level, then the president could easily represent not a majority of Americans, but a plurality. In principle, ranked-choice voting should be able to solve this problem. However, elections are run state by state, and

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for ranked-choice voting to operate, the rankings would ideally have to cross state lines. That fact may be enough to

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speaking with an economist who was also an independent state senator from Yarmouth, Dick Woodbury. Woodbury had authored legislation while in the senate to introduce ranked-choice voting (RCV) into Maine law. In 2014, he decided not to run for reelection. Cara convinced him to help pass an initiative to bring RCV to

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be used on statewide officers referred to in the Constitution as requiring “plurality” voting, it did not apply to all state offices. See id. 9.Ranked-choice voting does not always eliminate the “spoiler effect,” at least where the additional candidate is not a weak candidate. See “The Spoiler Effect,” Center for Election

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ignorance weakening, 135–136, 174. See also ignorance loss of faith in, xi–xiv, 179–180, 264n3 majoritarianism defeated by Senate, 33–34 majoritarianism via ranked-choice voting, 153–155, 240, 315n9 media educating public, 85, 101–104, 173, 192, 201–203, 204–212, 288nn71–72 muddled middle importance, 108–109, 124 “the

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–196 Jefferson vs. Adams, 37–38 political speech at polling places, 218–219, 313n53 popular vote vs. plurality, 107 primaries as, 52. See also primaries ranked-choice voting, 152–155, [165n36], 237–241, 261, 304n36, 314n7, 315n9 soft money receipts graph, 148 sortition contrasted, 186–190 Electoral College abolishing, 160–161 comments by

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–219 HR 1 (116th Congress), 250–252 information conveyance, 200–203 jury votes knowledgeable, 128–129, 171–173 limits and untruths recognized, 193–197 Maine ranked-choice voting, 152–155, 237–241, 314n7, 315n9 Michigan gerrymandering reform, 232–237 narratives compelling enough to teach, 204–212 New Jersey gerrymandering reform, 241–246 paying

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, 65, 223, 224, 229 Madison, James, 3, 4, 34, 150, 160 Maine Electoral College votes, 36 ranked-choice voting, 153–154, 237–241, 314n7, 315n9 state election campaign funding, 145 majoritarianism electoral vote for president, 38–43 ranked-choice voting for, 153–155, 240, 315n9 Senate defeating, 33–34 Twelfth Amendment protecting, 38–39 two-party

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Supreme Court and opinion polls, [71n17], 283n17 television informing, 73–78, 85, 126, 200–212 platform politics about, 246–250 experimental projects, [178n11], 307n11 Main ranked-choice voting, 153–154, 237–241, 314n7, 315n9 Michigan gerrymandering reform, 232–237 New Jersey gerrymandering reform, 241–246 reform organizations, 255–258 plural voting, 5 podcasting

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, 135–136, 174, 249, 294n125 equality of states and people, 3–4 extremes of political parties, 23–25, 28, 29, 62–63, 152, 199 Maine ranked-choice voting reform, 153–154, 237–241, 314n7, 315n9 Michigan gerrymandering reform, 232–237 New Jersey gerrymandering reform, 241–246 the people electing senators, 32–33, 156

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primaries, 51–53 Radical Markets (Posner & Weyl), 143–145 radio, 72, 91. See also broadcasting random sampling, [68n5], 282n5 random selection vs. elections, 186–190 ranked-choice voting (RCV), 152–155, [165n36], 237–241, 261, 304n36, 314n7, 315n9 The Rational Public (Page & Shapiro), 76–77, 83, 126, 254 redistricting. See electoral districts; gerrymandering

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–109 politics changed by, 73–78 See also broadcasting; cable news Theiss-Morse, Elizabeth, 235 third-party candidates proportional allocation of electors and, 164–165 ranked-choice voting and, 153–155, 237, 240, 315n9 two-party superiority, 225 Thirteenth Amendment, 248 Trump, Donald 2016 electoral votes, 36, 227 2016 if electoral tie, [165n36

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HR 1 (116th Congress), 250–252 jury votes knowledgeable, 171–173 monetary incentives to states, 166–167 National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, 161–162, 303n31 ranked-choice voting, 152–155, [165n36], 237–241, 261, 304n36, 314n7, 315n9 sortition vs. elections, 186–190 star voting, [240n9], 315n9 states improving voting rights, [166n37], 304n37 suing

The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America

by Victor Davis Hanson · 15 Nov 2021 · 458pp · 132,912 words

Larry Diamond has argued that to ensure fairness in American presidential and national elections, we need both to abolish the Electoral College and to adopt ranked-choice voting (RCV), that is, allowing citizens to rank their preferences for multiple candidates, as a way to green-light further changes in how we conduct elections

It's Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear

by Gregg Easterbrook · 20 Feb 2018 · 424pp · 119,679 words

primaries, repeal of laws that prevent primary losers from filing for the general election, an end to gerrymandering, resolution of the lobbyist revolving-door problem, rank-choice voting, and presidential election via popular vote. Let’s examine each of his ideas. Open Primaries. Fewer than half of America’s states hold open primaries

Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy

by Jamie Raskin · 4 Jan 2022 · 450pp · 144,939 words

fountain of nimble and excellent legislative proposals to advance strong democracy and greater fairness in the United States. Don had been my key collaborator on ranked-choice voting ever since I got to Congress and was a champion democracy reformer. Seeing Don, I asked him if he was ready to impeach the first

The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland

by Ali Winston and Darwin Bondgraham · 10 Jan 2023 · 498pp · 184,761 words

opportunity to become mayor, despite Oakland’s financial ruin, stalled police reforms, 16 percent unemployment, and a tidal wave of foreclosures. The city was using “ranked-choice voting” for the first time, a system in which a candidate must win more than 50 percent of the overall vote to be declared the winner

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Bender, “Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums Won’t Seek Second Term,” East Bay Times (Walnut Creek, CA), August 4, 2010. 27. Alameda County Registrar of Voters, ranked-choice voting results report for November 2, 2010, General Election, accessed at https://www.acvote.org/election-information/archived-elections. 28. Terry Bowman, “Grievant’s post arbitration