Elections 2011: Ranked Choice Voting & More

Many Americans had a chance to vote in state and local elections on November 8. FairVote was particularly focused on the first-ever use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in Maine's biggest city of Portland, along with RCV elections in St. Paul (MN), San Francisco (CA), Cambridge (MA), Telluride (CO) and Takoma Park (MD). The news from these elections was extremely promising for reform advocates. Voters and election officials handled the system well, and more than two candidates were able to run without talk of "spoilers."

We remain concerned about voter turnout decline in many elections and low numbers of contested races. We see winner-take-all rules as increasingly locking voters into one-party, no-contest boxes. Fair voting methods of proportional voting are necessary to  provide meaningful choices and fair representation in our legislative elections.

Here are links: