Election Reform

Montana may be on the verge of joining a growing movement across the country to give voters a fairer elections process that offers more choice and greater accountability. 

The late Peter Ackerman, an expert in nonviolent civil resistance and a driving force behind reform efforts like Maine’s “More Voice” initiatives, said that even the best ideas are accepted in stages:

A proposed amendment to the South Dakota Constitution to require a nonpartisan primary system in which all voters and candidates participate on a single ballot has been certified for the November ballot.

Nearly three-quarters of Oakland voters (74%) approved an initiative in 2022 that took a comprehensive approach to campaign finance solutions in the city. However, one of its historic changes is in need of funding if it is going to be implemented by 2026; namely, its "democracy dollars" public finance system.

A recent poll conducted by Competitive Edge research with funding by More Choice San Diego found that 62% of voters in Chula Vista -- if given the opportunity -- would support a measure that would advance five candidates to a general election that uses ranked ballots.

Imagine it’s election night 2024. A few close swing states will decide the presidency – and test the health of our democracy. In that scenario, we can be certain of two facts: Neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump will win a majority of the vote, and votes for independent and third-party candidates will dwarf the final margin.

One week after the Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition submitted roughly 30,000 more signatures than they needed to get a nonpartisan top-four primary system on the ballot, South Dakota Open Primaries met the required number of signatures in their own state to put a top-two system before voters.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt recently signed into law a bill that bans ranked choice voting (RCV) at all levels of elections within the state. Oklahoma is the seventh state to pass a law that stops voters from exploring the alternative voting method. 

Regardless of how one feels about RCV, this development should alarm anyone who believes the US needs voting systems that bolster competition, choice, and accountability in the electoral process. Because if they ban one reform, they'll ban others.

David Daley, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan better elections group FairVote, released a statement Wednesday on Robert F Kennedy Jr's "no spoiler pledge," calling it "weird" and "unproven."

An initiative that would ensure equal voting rights for 270,000 independent voters in Idaho is all but certain to qualify for the November ballot. The Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition exceeded 90,000 signatures for its "Final Four" elections initiative days before the May 1 deadline.