Fair Representation for All Jennifer Pae Fair Vote

Fair Representation for All Jennifer Pae Fair. Vote California Director jennifer@fairvote. org

So many problems… Source: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert • Barriers to voter registration & voter education • Voter suppression • Voter ID laws • Low voter turnout • Vote splitting & spoiler effect • Voting for the lesser of two evils • Wasted votes • Gerrymandering & redistricting • Campaign finance

So who is voting? Vote More: Rich High Education Older White Vote Less: Poor Low Education Young People of color & immigrants

If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu

Proportionality of Voting Systems Plurality-Majority At-Large Plurality Semi-Proportional Single Limited Member Voting Plurality Least Proportional Cumulative Voting Ranked Choice Voting Most Proportional

Ranked Choice Voting

How does RCV work? (single-seat) If your favorite candidate doesn’t win, your vote counts for your next choice until someone wins with a majority.

Winner-take-all Fair Representation

How does RCV work? (multi-seat) The more seats there are to fill, the greater the number of voters who will be represented. What is the threshold of votes required for a candidate to win? Determined based on the number of seats to be filled in that race. # of Seats to be Filled Threshold of Votes One (1) 50%+1 Two (2) 33. 3% +1 Three (3) 25%+1 Four (4) 20%+1

Santa Clara

Benefits of RCV: Increased Diversity In Cambridge, MA: ● Since 1980, when the African. American pop crossed 10% of total pop, members of the African-American community have been consistently elected to city council & school committee. ● 95% of voters get one of their top choices elected.

Benefits of RCV: Positive Campaigning ●Door-to-door, face-to-face contact & coalition building matter more than money in politics ●RCV encourages candidates to run positive campaigns, focus on issues & reach beyond their base ●Studies show that women prefer to run in campaigns that are more cooperative, rather than adversarial & negative Imagine, what would have happened if the Republican Party used RCV? (Trump won the nomination with 44. 9%. )

RCV in Action • Majority support in all 7 RCV cities polled in 2013 -14 • Over 80% rank 2+ in contested mayoral The Value: races • 34 out of 50 states are using or introducing RCV legislation

Imagine What’s Possible • Every governing body, from City Hall to Congress, is truly representative of the people. • A fully engaged electorate with no barriers to participation for the communities most impacted, where every vote counts. • We win on the issues that deeply impact our lives.