Resources
One of Democracy Rising's key program areas is providing the support and expertise needed to facilitate successful implementations of electoral reforms, one reform in particular is ranked choice voting. Below are several voter education resources.
Protect the Win
You had a successful campaign, and ranked choice voting (RCV) passed in your jurisdiction! So, what happens next?
A successful implementation process can mean the difference between a smooth election that lives up to the promises of your campaign and a fiasco that leaves voters and lawmakers wondering if this new reform is worth the trouble. We have a saying that the most successful campaigns end with a successful first implementation.
With this in mind, RepresentUs, Democracy Rising, and RCVRC partnered together to create a new resource guide to help advocates smooth the path to a successful first election (and beyond!). As one of the fastest-growing electoral reforms in the United States, every election cycle sees new cities and states passing RCV laws. As more people become interested in RCV, advocacy groups have created a wealth of materials to explain how RCV works and how to pass RCV laws. Far less attention has been paid to what to do once that law has passed. This guide exists to fill that gap.
We are excited to share Protect the Win: An Advocate's Guide to Implementing RCV with you and hope you find it helpful in winning over the hearts and minds of YOUR voters for RCV!
Videos
When ranked choice voting is used to elect one seat, like a Mayor or Governor, a candidate must earn more than half of the votes to be elected. Below are videos that explain how ranked choice voting works when electing only one winner.
When ranked choice voting is used to elect more than one seat, like a school board or several at-large seats on a council or commission, it is a proportional system. That means voters get representation based on their share of the electorate. Below are videos that explain how ranked choice voting works when electing more than one winner.
The Women of Color Democracy Transformation Summit
The first annual Women of Color Democracy Transformation Summit will bring together a small cohort of women of color who are transforming democracy in their communities. During the 3 day, in-person summit, participants will have the opportunity to:
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Learn from one another about the work that each is doing in their own community to strengthen democracy and build community power.
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Take a deep dive into strategies, tactics, and other advocacy best practices that participants and others can learn from and utilize when working on advancing similar reforms and initiatives in their communities.
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Co-define ways to uplift and support one another and create a peer-to-peer support network.
The WOC Democracy Transformation Summit is a power building project. It builds the collective power of the women of color working to build people-power and transform the way democracy is done in their communities.
Language Justice
With more jurisdictions around the country opting to implement ranked-choice voting, elections administrators and civic engagement groups need to effectively communicate about how to express their preferences with a new ballot design. More Equitable Democracy and Democracy Rising worked with partners in three states to conduct focus group research in multiple languages. The final reports detail findings about how immigrants view representative democracy, understand the process of ranking preferences, and how to produce engaging voter education materials.