Daily Resource Highlight - 7/6/2021

Posted by on July 06, 2021 at 4:21 PM

Below are the highlights and featured resources of this past week’s Daily* Resource.

6/29/2021 - The Big Apple Gets its First Taste of Ranked Choice Voting

My best friend was born and raised in New York City, which means that all of our conversations about reform inevitably become about how the reform would impact NYC. He believes that the universe revolves around his hometown, and he’s unapologetic about that belief.

When it comes to voting reform, though, he’s right -- at least for now. 

On June 22nd, New York City used Ranked Choice Voting (story from The Flip Side) in its Democratic primary for mayor, becoming the largest city to use the alternative voting system, and bringing national attention to its strengths and weaknesses. You can learn more about Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) from Bridge Alliance member FairVote, whose mission is to educate the public about Ranked Choice Voting and promote its use.

The week before election day, FairVote worked with Citizen Data to poll likely Democratic primary voters about their preferences, and the results speak for themselves. They found Eric Adams led the pack with just under 32% of first-choice votes, followed by Maya Wiley, Kathryn Garcia, and Andrew Yang. And sure enough...Eric Adams currently leads the primary race with just under 32% of the vote, followed by Wiley, Garcia, and Yang, in that order.

With the implementation of RCV, however, that’s not the end of the story. As noted by Shawn Griffiths of Independent Voter Network, Adams can’t win with just 32% of the vote. Instead, NYC Democratic primary voters had the opportunity to rank the candidates, and supporters of candidates with less support will have their votes reallocated until a candidate breaks 50%. FairVote incorporated this system into its poll, and you can see the results by clicking “Show Me The Ranked Choice Results.”

I won’t spoil the winner for you, except to say that the winning candidate received over 50% of the vote.

 

7/01/2021 - MWEG Shows You Don’t Need Millions to Make a Difference

If you ask a random American what’s wrong with politics today, there is a very good chance they will mention the influence of money. These concerns are echoed by Bridge Alliance members like Take Back Our Republic and National Institute on Money in Politics. Meanwhile, American Promise is trying to pass a constitutional amendment to address the issue, and RepresentUs is making political money in politics a focus of its annual summit. (more on that in a future newsletter)

There is no doubt that money plays a significant role in American politics, but that does not mean that you need money to make a difference. Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) is a volunteer-powered organization, and its recently released 2020 Annual Report shows the tremendous difference that dedicated volunteers can make. They reached over 1 million people on social media, hosted over 2,000 conversations, and were featured in the New York Times, USA Today, Deseret News, and other nationally recognized publications.

Volunteerism is the backbone of advocacy in America, and there are countless opportunities to get involved on issues you care about. You can find about some of those opportunities by scrolling down to the events section of this newsletter. But if you want to really expand your search, we recommend bookmarking CitizenConnect.us. Citizen Connect features countless events promoting healthy self-governance, from organizations both inside and outside of the Bridge Alliance.

So again, if you’re looking to get involved, go to Citizen Connect and find out how you can make a difference. Trust me when I say it will be more fun than putting in your credit card information for the latest last-minute, 3-to-1 match, FEC deadline-beating campaign drive.

 

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