Mastodawn

My latest election policy roundup is on topics that include the gerrymandering wars, Cato's panel on New York City ranked choice voting #RCV, a caller inquires about access to Colorado voting machines, and a Georgia election board's ruling against Lyft over election-day discounts.

Election Policy Roundup

FairVote Illinois 3d ago

Democracy advocates, there's a lot to talk about for Chicago, Naperville, and the State of Illinois. Join us on August 20 from 7-8pm on Zoom to discuss our ongoing campaigns to upgrade elections in Illinois to ranked choice voting! RSVP here: https://www.fairvoteillinois.org/statewide_meeting_20250820

#RankedChoiceVoting #RCV #Illinois #Chicago #ChicagoIllinois #Politics #IllinoisPoltiics #ChicagoPolitics #Naperville #NapervilleIllinois

Otis White 4d ago

People may not like change but in many cases, they can adapt to it. This should give reformers heart when others say a change is too great for people to accept. That’s what they said about ranked-choice voting. No question, #RCV is a big change, but NYC voters … and some candidates … have figured it out. And they’re using it … precisely as designed. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/08/04/nyregion/nyc-mayoral-primary-mamdani-ballots.html

Ranked-Choice Voting Helped Mamdani Score a Decisive Primary Win

The primary results show that voters and campaigns are becoming more sophisticated in how they use ranked-choice voting.

The New York Times

Walter Olson Aug 6

Detailed thread on our @cato.org panel on #RCV in NYC this afternoon.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bvceb2ec6zdh4jijxl3hatfx/post/3lvqw65nxfk2q

FairVote Illinois Aug 3

In June, NYC demonstrated why ranked choice voting is so great for democracy: It changes the game — and its incentives. As David Daley puts it in The Guardian: "it’s a race where instead of tearing down opponents, candidates point out areas of agreement and ask to be a voter’s second choice."

Chicago should follow NYC and adopt RCV ASAP so that we can begin using it for our mayoral, city council, and clerk races.

#RankedChoiceVoting #RCV #Democracy #Chicago #ChicagoIllinois

Walter Olson Jul 30

New roundup from me of items on voting/elections including our #RCV webinar next week, a Nevada disappointment, efforts to ignore the 14th Amendment, DOJ demands for voter lists, false rumors of election fraud in Rockland County, N.Y., and an order of acquittal in the Mackey vote-by-text case.

Election Policy Roundup

Show thread

Walter Olson Jul 30

Expect a lively range of perspectives from David Daley, independent author of books on renewing democracy; Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle; and John Ketcham, who handles governance issues at MI and has testified in favor of electoral innovation in NYC. #RCV /3, end

Show thread

Walter Olson Jul 30

Did #RCV make a big difference in Zohran Mamdani's startling win, and if so how? Should NYC revise how it announces ranked vote results? Extend RCV to general elections? Is the city a good model of fusion voting? And what about layering on reform ideas like open primaries or top-two-plus-runoff? /2

ProRep Coalition Jul 29

I was just reading an old SF ballot book from 1996, which included Proposition H, which would have established proportional ranked choice voting (called preference voting) for the Board of Supervisors.

Among the very good and serious testimonials in the ballot arguments from folks like Lani Guinier, Jesse Jackson and John Anderson, this one from SF Tenants Union and SF Bicycle Coalition was actually my favorite:

"Which district do you live in? The Italian district? The Green district? The cyberspace district? The bicycle riders district? The tenants district? You can build your own district! Preference Voting is the tool!"

I love that. Sadly it did not pass.

#sfba #rcv #proportionalRepresentation #bikes #cyberspace #tenants

https://webbie1.sfpl.org/multimedia/pdf/elections/November5_1996short.pdf

Otis White Jul 28

The NY Times analyzed votes from the NYC mayoral primary and found that ranked-choice voting really does change election strategies. Urging voters to choose only a single candidate (AKA “bullet voting”) isn’t the winning way. “Cross-endorsing,” where candidates urge voters to select a specific candidate as their second choice, does. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/07/26/nyregion/nyc-mayor-ranked-choice-map.html #RCV

NYC Election Map: How Mamdani's Ranked-Choice Strategy Beat Cuomo

New data provides the clearest picture yet of how Zohran Mamdani pulled off his primary election upset.

The New York Times