How Women Are Fighting for More Equitable Elections Through Ranked-Choice Voting
Originally published by Livia Follet for MS. Magazine
Women hold 53 percent of seats in city legislatures that use ranked-choice voting, compared to 22 percent of all local offices, according to data released earlier this year by RepresentWomen.
The third annual Democracy Solutions Summit put on by RepresentWomen took place March 5-7 following Super Tuesday. The free virtual event hosted conversations on the state of ranked-choice voting, strategies to elect our first woman president and shifting paradigms of power through a global movement.
Ranked-choice voting (RCV) requires voters to rank candidates in order of preference, in contrast to the standard U.S. system where voters pick one candidate to win. RCV helps to revitalize voter participation in a democracy because it requires voters to look beyond the two party system—voters must evaluate candidates by what they stand for over the political party they align themselves with.
“Campaigns are a more civil process under ranked-choice voting,” said Alliana Salanguit, deputy director for Alaskans for Better Elections.
In the U.S., many state and city systems using RCV—Alaska, for example—emulate what voting reform might look like on a national level.
“I’m really looking at ranked-choice voting, or systems like ranked-choice voting with open primaries, as the ends to really trying to help heal our nation,” said Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska).