Learning from a successful 2023
FairVote has a lot to be thankful for as the new year begins: Twenty-seven city ballot measure wins in a row for ranked choice voting (RCV). Twenty-four jurisdictions that used RCV in their elections last year. Six pro-RCV bills passed by state legislatures in their 2023 sessions.
What can we learn from these successes to keep winning in 2024 and beyond? In November 2023, FairVote hosted a Learning Summit that brought together a diverse group of stakeholders — coalition partners, donors, staff, and board members — to answer this question. We’ve now finished organizing takeaways from the summit, and are excited to share them with supporters and partners.
The Learning Summit helped identify FairVote’s core competencies and how we work best with our partners:
- FairVote’s strengths are cross-partisan work, research, communications, and legal analysis.
- We have demonstrated cross-partisan success through support for RCV in both Democratic and Republican presidential primaries.
- Our research and analysis shows why voters love RCV, highlights the shortcomings with winner-take-all elections, and analyzes how the Fair Representation Act could benefit every state.
- FairVote’s communications work has helped secure over 50 editorials in support of RCV and promoted the Fair Representation Act, which has been spotlighted by NPR and endorsed by The New York Times.
- Finally, our legal analysis and model legislation are highly rated by state and local partners.
The RCV movement has many exciting opportunities in the years ahead. Building off key wins in Maine, Alaska, and over 50 cities, more groups have joined FairVote in advancing RCV. Issue-oriented organizations such as labor unions, business associations, and civil rights groups are also starting to engage more with electoral reform. Moving forward, we can facilitate deeper, more structured coalition-building efforts.
In addition to FairVote’s core competencies, the summit identified key questions we need to answer as we craft our next strategic plan:
- How can we continue to deepen the diversity of the RCV movement?
- How might we build on the breakthrough wins for proportional RCV in Portland, OR and other cities to continue growing this transformational reform?
- What other reform priorities might best complement RCV?
We are well-positioned to answer these questions and seize new opportunities to advance RCV thanks to the support of our strategy consultants at Root Change, and our partners, donors, staff, and Board of Directors. The future of the RCV movement is bright, and we look forward to developing a new strategic plan to meet the moment.
