Dr. Danielle Allen elected FairVote Board Chair
Last month, Dr. Danielle Allen was unanimously elected to a two-year term as chair of FairVote’s board. Danielle is one of the nation’s most distinguished political philosophers, and currently serves as the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. Danielle is also a seasoned nonprofit leader, democracy advocate, and mom; FairVote is thrilled that Danielle has served as a Board member since 2022 and is now leading our Board!
Danielle shared some of her optimism about FairVote and the future of election reform with us:
I am honored to step into chairing the FairVote board at this important time for FairVote and the movement. I am excited to keep working with this growing organization, its terrific leadership team, and my committed Board colleagues.
The need for election reform has never been clearer. We are days from a likely government shutdown, Democrats and Republicans trust each other less and less, and millions of Americans feel unrepresented by their own government.
Reforms like ranked choice voting and multi-member districts would foster the spirit of cooperation and compromise that we need to make politics better. FairVote’s 31 years of impact and thought leadership make it uniquely suited to lead the movement for much-needed change.
Danielle’s extensive experience makes her the perfect fit to lead FairVote’s board. In 2020, she chaired the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship. The commission’s work culminated in a landmark report that included ranked choice voting and multi-member congressional districts among its top recommendations for improving American democracy.
In 2022, Danielle made history as the first Black woman ever to run for statewide office in Massachusetts. She recently appeared on The Ezra Klein Show and is a regular columnist for The Washington Post, covering topics from the importance of civic education to the impact of artificial intelligence on democracy. In July 2023, she wrote about how proportional ranked choice voting and multi-member districts can help “slay the gerrymandering dragon” and ensure more voices are heard in Congress:
In such a system, sizable minority constituencies within a district will generally be able to elect at least one representative — regardless of whether those minority constituencies are partisan minorities or racial, ethnic or cultural minorities….
[In a three-member district] those three members — two from one party and one from another — would need to figure out how to work together on behalf of their shared district. And when the two major parties caucus in Congress, every geographical region of the country would be represented. Now, when Republicans caucus, there is no one from Massachusetts or Hawaii there. And when the Democrats caucus, there is no one from Oklahoma or Arkansas. On this model, every state would have some representation from each major party. This would make for much healthier practices of debate and deliberation.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Danielle’s leadership in rallying coalitions and building solutions resulted in the country’s first-ever Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience. Her policies were adopted in federal legislation and an executive order by President Biden. Danielle is also the author of several books, including Our Declaration: a reading of the Declaration of Independence in defense of equality and Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A.
With Danielle Allen’s leadership, our movement will accomplish great things in the years to come. We can’t wait to see what’s next!
