100% Democracy: What if we held an election and everyone came?

Hear from 100% Democracy Executive Director Miles Rapoport and Raaheela Ahmed, National Legislative and Organizing Director about their work towards universal voting in the United States.

1 0

RCV Day 2025 Trailer

There's so much activity, wins, and gains from all around the country – because people who care are working together. RCV Day, 1/23, is a day to come together, share, and celebrate!

Watch the whole virtual celebration here: https://youtu.be/b5GbMWj9mLU?si=XRh1KsWjZaefGutI

1 0

Ranked Choice Voting Day 2025 celebration

RCV leaders from dozens of statewide organizations share their wins, gains, and goals at this national celebration!

8 0

Ranked Choice Voting Act Webinar

Join us for a special event about the 2024 Ranked Choice Voting Act with U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin, who highlights how this legislation will strengthen American democracy and promote fairer and more representative elections by implementing ranked choice voting for all congressional primary and general elections.
Ask your members of Congress to support the Ranked Choice Voting Act: https://bit.ly/RCVact

You will also hear from key leaders in election reform, including experts from FairVote, Rank the Vote, and RepresentWomen. They will speak to the possible implications of the RCV Act on gender parity in congress, the progress of ranked choice voting nationwide, and how you can join the movement. Speakers:

🎤 Congressman Jamie Raskin – U.S. Representative, champion for democracy, and sponsor of the Ranked Choice Voting Act.
🎤 Eileen Reavey – Deputy Director, Rank The Vote
🎤 Meredith Sumpter – President & CEO, FairVote

2 1

EduDemocracy and The Cornerstone Project, with Dr. Landon Mascareñaz

Dr. Landon Mascareñaz, founding leader of The Cornerstone Project, sat down with us to talk about how the road to enhancing the quality of education goes through bringing stronger democracy to school board elections.

The Cornerstone Project (https://www.cornerstonedemocracy.org) is an national education redesign and democracy renovation network aspiring to unrig the democratic infrastructure within education to reduce polarization, build a more just system, and unleash the potential for every learner to thrive.

2 0

Write & learn at Rank the Vote's Letter to the Editor workshops

Meet Rebecca and join other RCV enthusiasts in crafting letters for your local newsletters. We will start by discussing best practices and strategies, and answer any questions you may have about the process. By dedicating focused time to writing LTEs on a regular basis, you can help boost the RCV signal in your community and across the country.

5 0

RCV Day 2024: Roadtrip with Rank the Vote

State ranked choice voting groups give updates about their amazing work in 2023 and what to look forward to in 2024.

8 0

"A Power Grab": Ohio Issue 1 & the Future of RCV in Ohio

Welcome to the fifth episode of the RCV Roundtable, "A Power Grab": Ohio Issue 1 & the Future of RCV in Ohio!!

While Ohio may not have ranked-choice voting in statewide elections, it does have an early history with RCV since many Ohio cities were the first to implement RCV back in the beginning of the 1900s.

The movement to bring RCV back is in full swing, but there is a potential major roadblock that Ohio residents will be voting on tomorrow, Ohio Issue 1. Issue 1 would require future initiated constitutional amendments to pass with 60% of the vote and would increase the amount of counties signatures have to be collected from, potentially killing future initiatives.

In this episode, Auston and Nikita sit down with Executive Director of Rank the Vote Ohio Kyle Herman to dive deep into the current situation of RCV and Issue 1 in Ohio and Issue 1’s potential harmful impacts on democracy.

If you are an Ohio resident, make sure to vote on Issue 1 on August 8th. The polls open at 6:30 AM and close at 7:30PM!

The RCV Roundtable will be going on a brief hiatus so that our hosts can move back into college! Stay tuned for more episodes in September. Embrace your voice, and unlock the choice!!

0 0

The Power of Preference: Inside Alaska's Ranked Choice Voting with Jason Grenn

Welcome to the fourth episode of the RCV Roundtable, “The Power of Preference”: Inside Alaska’s Ranked Choice Voting with Jason Grenn

While Alaska’s journey with RCV started in 2002, the state revolutionized its electoral system in 2020 by creating RCV for the general election and open top-four primaries for state and congressional offices.

With Alaska’s vast geographic expanse and diverse communities, organizers in the state such as former state Rep. Jason Grenn, met the people where they were through tremendous grassroots efforts. In this episode, Auston and Nikita sit down with Mr. Grenn to dive deep into the history and current situation of RCV in Alaska and how the rest of the country can learn from “the last frontier”.

We also finally reveal the long-awaited winner of our very first Rank The Vote merch giveaway!

Tune in to “The RCV Round Table'' on August 7th at 5 pm EST for our next episode! Embrace your voice and unlock the choice!!

1 1

"Dirigo": A History of RCV in Maine

In 2018, Maine became the first state in the nation to use ranked-choice voting in federal elections after its residents voted for it in 2016. The implementation faced numerous challenges that involved the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, a delayed effort by the legislature, and another referendum campaign. Movements to expand RCV in the state continue to face obstacles as well. In this episode, Auston and Nikita sit down with former state Rep. Diane Russell to dive deep into the history of RCV in the state and how the rest of the country can learn from Maine.

Remember to enter into our merch giveaway to receive a free tote by following the directions outlined in the episode! Tune in to “The RCV Round Table” on July 26th at 5 pm EST for the next episode! Embrace your voice, and unlock the choice!!

Background on the history of ranked-choice voting in Maine: https://www.lwvme.org/RCV_Timeline.html

3 0

How to Talk About RCV When Canvassing

Become an expert messenger to spread the word about ranked choice voting by just spending 6 minutes with California Ranked Choice Voting Coalition's Katie Babb.

3 0

Debunking Myths About RCV

Welcome to another episode of the RCV Roundtable by Rank the Vote with Auston Collings and Nikita Paudel! In this episode, they give a comprehensive overview of how ranked-choice voting operates and how to fill out a sample ranked-choice ballot. Later on, Nikita tries to stump Auston in a game of Myth or Fact where he has to identify whether common statements about RCV are myths or facts. Also, enter our merch giveaway to receive a free tote by following the directions outlined in the episode! Tune in to “The RCV Round Table” on July 12th at 5 pm EST for the next episode! Embrace your voice, and unlock the choice!!

Don't forget to leave your name, your state, and what you are most excited about for the ranked-choice voting movement in the comments to be entered in the giveaway!

2 1

Introduction to the RCV Roundtable

Welcome to the RCV Roundtable with Auston Collings and Nikita Paudel! Presented by the national, non-partisan non-profit Rank the Vote, “The RCV Roundtable” brings together the incredible stories of grassroots organizers from all corners of the country. Join us in the upcoming weeks as we dive into the grassroots efforts to implement Ranked Choice Voting in elections all across the country. In this episode, Auston and Nikita introduce themselves, the podcast, and the concept of ranked-choice voting. Tune in to “The RCV Round Table” every other Wednesday at 5 pm EST for more episodes! Embrace your voice, and unlock the choice!!

2 0

Business for Democracy presents Ranked Choice Voting

Business for Democracy presents Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Hosted by Frank Knapp and Abby Maxwell, featuring FairVote's Rachel Hutchinson and Rank the Vote's Nathan Lockwood. Discussion of how RCV makes politics and government work with for all Americans with benefits for small businesses.

1 0

Rank the Vote – Strengthening our democracy with ranked choice voting

RANK THE VOTE – Strengthening our democracy with ranked choice voting.

We make it easy as 1-2-3 to build a statewide movement for RCV.

Rank the Vote is a non-partisan, 501c3 non-profit organization formed to empower people across America to rapidly build grassroots movements for ranked choice voting in their own states, creating the preconditions for successful ballot or legislative campaigns.

From the video:

Our political system is paralyzed by polarization. Most vote out of fear of the other side; others are so alienated, they don’t believe even that makes a difference. Voices of innovation and compromise are blocked from the podium of politics. Women and people of color, despite hard-won gains, remain far from fair representation.

Ranked choice voting is one simple change proven to fix these problems caused by our outdated winner-take-all, plurality voting system. But when the impact is big, even simple change is hard, especially for a reform that is new to most Americans.

Rank the Vote’s role is to make political change possible by producing cultural change first. We are the one national organization that’s teaching everyday people how to rapidly “mainstream” the idea of RCV right in their home states.

Our strategy is to co-found and coach-up groups promoting RCV using grassroots organizing practices from our field-tested playbook. We’re already working with organizations in 32 states. Our success is measured by each group’s capacity growth — people signed up, money raised, and endorsements gathered.

Growing towards the goal of having 1% of each state’s population organized, along with completing a “campaign readiness” checklist built by local leaders and national partners, we hope to bring about the next big wave of city and state RCV enactments in 2-6 years.

Rank the Vote’s mission will be achieved when there are fifty states, indivisible, strengthening our democracy through ranked choice voting.

5 1

How ranked choice voting can create a better civic process

Amy Tobia of Represent.US San Diego talks about what is appealing to her about ranked choice voting
—
Amy Tobia: So from my standpoint, I start with the choice element because I feel that when you go to the ballot box in the general election, and there are two candidates on the ballot, that means that for the past six months, you've been watching these two individuals, sometimes people who worked together in the past, basically beat each other up just because they want to be seen as just a little better than the other person on the ballot.

Really, what election should be about are talking about the issues of our community and the challenges that we face and throwing every possible solution on the table and having meaningful conversations about how we can get from point A to point B and how we can move our community forward. So with ranked choice voting and the top four or five approach where you have four or five candidates working to earn your support, it really is going to change the nature of our campaigns.

And it really is going to create a better civic process so that the voters are more inclined to participate. And the voters are essential in that civic process. So we want them to participate, and candidates are going to be listening to the voters in a very different way, because they know that they're not just chasing that single vote. They're chasing that second, third, and fourth ranking. So really when we talk about rank choice voting, I think it's not just about changing an election system. It's changing the way we engage civically during our campaign process. And that to me has the most appeal about the whole thing.

2 0

Our broken politics and ranked choice voting

In this excerpt from the documentary, The Battle for Ranked Choice Voting (full film: https://youtu.be/rOQdnAwG8Zk), political activists explain how sick our current political system is, and how they are working to make ranked choice voting a reality in Maine and across the United States.

1 0

Understanding election "spoilers" and how ranked choice voting fixes it

In this excerpt from the documentary, The Battle for Ranked Choice Voting (full film: https://youtu.be/rOQdnAwG8Zk), we learn how election "spoilers" wreak havoc on our elections, and how ranked choice voting elegantly fixes this.

1 0

Yes — you use ranked choice voting to pick your bagel

In this excerpt from the documentary, The Battle for Ranked Choice Voting (full film: https://youtu.be/rOQdnAwG8Zk), organizer Chris Cayer explains how we unconsciously use ranked choice voting every day, for things like picking out your bagel at the bagel shop.

1 0

Vertex Pharma founder Joshua Boger talks Ranked Choice Voting

While CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Joshua Boger describes how his staff used Ranked Choice Voting to make long-range research decisions resulting in breakthrough drug therapies for HIV, Hepatitis C, and Cystic Fibrosis. Dr. Boger then elaborates on key breakthroughs Ranked Choice Voting could bring to political elections.

3 0

Rank the Vote Webinar on Ranked Choice Voting

Rank the Vote delivered this talk on April 18, 2021. Here, we describe the problems of our current plurality voting system, how ranked choice voting solves these problems, and our strategy to continue to advance this amazing reform across the nation.

3 0

The Battle for Ranked Choice Voting

Maine citizens triumph over a political establishment determined to block their historic electoral reform.

The Battle for Ranked Choice Voting puts Maine's story in the context of America's 100-year flirtation with RCV – including the breaking of Tammany Hall's grip on power in New York City, the election of some of the country's first Black politicians, and a backlash steeped in racism and the Red Scare. Enlivened with colorful hand-drawn animation, pointed archival footage and an original score, the film drops in on cities like Memphis, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Santa Fe that have adopted Ranked Choice Voting, and takes viewers on a whirlwind tour of non-plurality voting systems dominant throughout the world.

With Kyle Bailey, Chris Cayer, Sec. of State Matt Dunlap (ME), Rep. Nika Elugardo (MA), Howie Fain, John FitzGibbon, Adam Friedman, Jeanne Massey, Cara Brown McCormick, Rep. Diane Russell (ME) & Tom Waddell

Directed by Julie Mallozzi • Produced by Scotty Vercoe
Edited by Shondra Burke • Filmed by Thomas Danielczik
Animation by Madelaine Dennis

Music by Conor Mulroy & Scotty Vercoe
Featuring "Old Speck" by Conor Mulroy • "Weighted Up" by Conor Mulroy & Scotty Vercoe
Courtesy of Melmac Records

Made possible by a grant from Election Reformers Network and dozens of citizen crowdfunders – THANK YOU!!!

RCVfilm.com :: about the film
RankTheVote.us :: about the movement

0

Do's and Don'ts of explaining Ranked Choice Voting

Voter Choice Massachusetts Founder Adam Friedman explains how to explain Ranked Choice Voting the right way, and how to avoid a common pitfall.

Here's Adam's RCV pitch, transcribed:

"The way you vote now is that you just pick one candidate, right? [Right.] With Ranked Choice Voting you can choose more than one — you just rank candidates in the order of choice: 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice. If your favorite can't win the election and doesn't have enough support, you have the power of backup choices, so your vote will instantly transfer to your 2nd choice, and so your vote is always in play, and your voice is always heard. Do you like that? [Yes!]"

34 1

Calling undecided voters about Ranked Choice Voting.

See how easy and fun it is to call an undecided voter, educate them about Ranked Choice Voting, and earn their strong support for the issue!

2 0