Momentum continues to build for broad systemic changes to how US citizens elect their public officials. Reforms like ranked choice voting and nonpartisan primaries are growing in popularity as voters look to solutions to make the political process fairer and voter-centric.

With 2020 near its end, political reformers are looking toward the future, and what proposals are working and what proposals need more attention. One proposal that is getting more attention from some reformers is proportional representation.

Earlier this fall, Occidental College junior Luigi Maruani laid in bed anxious and angry, swiping through his phone. His 75-year-old father had just contracted the coronavirus, and Maruani felt the federal government wasn’t responding to the pandemic with enough urgency.

A post in a Facebook group for students living off-campus caught his eye.

Voters are frustrated with the state of US politics. They want a fairer system that empowers them to elect representatives who will put their interests above those of private political parties and special interests. It is becoming much more apparent to citizens that long-term solutions to the nation’s biggest problems can’t be found until we fix how voters elect public officials.