Program Links
IRV in Los Angeles
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Political Reform Program's priorities moving forward
IRV in LA. City Hall orders a task force to study how IRV can be implemented. Click here for the latest informaton on the campaign for IRV in LA.
Universal voter registration. Momentum has been steadily building for New America's proposals for universal voter registration, including automatic registration using DMV and tax databases, and lowering the voter registration age to 16-years-old. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Election Assistance Commission Chair Rosemary Rodriguez have advocated for a voter registration system where the government, not each individual, is responsible for achieving registration of all eligible voters.
Long Beach looks at IRV. The city clerk of Long Beach has issued a favorable report that outlines the advantages of Long Beach changing from its current two-round method to electing majority winners in a single election using IRV. Long Beach Press-Telegram endorses IRV; read the city clerk's report here.
IRV moves forward, across the nation. Recently IRV has seen advances in North Carolina, New York, and Tennessee. In Memphis (TN), 71% of voters recently approved IRV. North Carolina is in the process of continuing its current pilot program for IRV in the cities of Cary and Hendersonville.
About This Program
Our political institutions -- from our noncompetitive, winner-take-all elections to our unrepresentative two-party system to the way we pay for political campaigns -- have created a crisis of confidence in our democracy. A more representative and responsive government is a prerequisite for building the political consensus necessary to address the nation’s most pressing problems. Working at both the national level and in California, the Political Reform Program promotes innovative political reforms -- such as instant runoff voting, proportional representation and free air time -- designed to re-engage and empower the alienated majority of the American electorate.
A more-detailed program description is available here.
Articles
| Article | Date |
|---|---|
| Making More Sense of Our Elections | November 11, 2008 |
| Electoral Games People Play | November 1, 2008 |
| The Housing Crisis: Main Street Needs Help, Too | October 23, 2008 |
| Let the Citizens Gather to Decide on State Reforms | September 28, 2008 |
| China's Robber-Baron Ways | September 23, 2008 |
| Save SF's Campaign Finance Program | July 2, 2008 |
| The Groundhog Day Election In Los Angeles | June 23, 2008 |
| Cracks In the Foundation | April 24, 2008 |
| A Way Out Of the Nader Dilemma | March 6, 2008 |
| Why Tuesday Won't be So Super | February 2, 2008 |
Policy Papers
| Title | Date |
|---|---|
| Voter Education and Outreach in San Francisco to Implement IRV | June 2007 |
| Instant Runoff Voting for the City of Los Angeles | April 2007 |
| Pre-Registration at Age 16 | February 2007 |
| Instant Runoff Voting | February 2007 |
| Automatic Voter Registration | November 2006 |
| Universal Voter Registration | October 2006 |
| Proportional Voting | July 2006 |
| Instant Runoff Voting: Making Your Vote Count | July 2006 |
| Citizens Assembly | June 2006 |
Events
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| CA Event: Instant Runoff Voting in Los Angeles | June 2, 2008 |
| CA Event: Instant Runoff Voting and Minorities in L.A. | April 19, 2008 |
| California Event: Repairing California Democracy | May 22, 2007 |
| California Event: Alternative Voting Systems | April 26, 2007 |
| Deliberative Democracy in California | February 23, 2007 |
| Ten Big Ideas for a New America | January 31, 2007 |
| 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy | June 22, 2006 |
| Reconnecting Californians to Their Government (Sacramento) | January 26, 2006 |
| Reconnecting Californians to Their Government (San Francisco) | January 25, 2006 |
| Reconnecting Californians to Their Government (Los Angeles) | January 24, 2006 |
Press
Staff
Program Staff
- Steven Hill
Director, Political Reform Program - Gautam Dutta
Deputy Director, Political Reform Program
Better Governance for California
New America's Mark Paul and Micah Weinberg have proposed a Big Idea for California: electing the state legislature by regionally based elections using proportional representation. Much better than today's red vs. blue winner-take-all districts, this method would make state government more accountable and more representative of the New California. Read their paper here.
New America Staff Featured in Oregonian
Blair Bobier, New America's Deputy Director of Political Reform for Northen California, recently wrote about how Instant Runoff Voting would benefit Oregon. His article was originally published in the Oregonian.
Los Angeles City Council Orders Task Force on IRV
Los Angeles (Oct. 30, 2008) - In a bid to bring Instant Runoff Voting to the City of Los Angeles and save taxpayers millions of dollars, Los Angeles Citycouncilmembers Jose Huizar and Bill Rosendahl moved Wednesday to support the creation of a task force to address procedural issues around IRV.
Click here to read the rest of the press release.
Study: Communities of Color Benefit from IRV
On May 5th, New America Foundation released a study on Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) and Its Impact on Communities of Color. The study analyzes IRV elections from other American cities, based on previous reports from FairVote, San Francisco State University, Asian Law Caucus and others.
The study shows that racial and ethnic minorities overwhelmingly understand IRV and use ranked ballots effectively. In San Francisco, voter turnout in socio-economically diverse neighborhoods has increased dramatically. The study also analyzes the effectiveness of past IRV educational campaigns and provides pointers for the City of Los Angeles to conduct its own voter outreach.
"Our study shows that communities of color take full advantage of IRV. They not only use ranked ballots effectively, but also turn out in record numbers -- giving them a greater voice in the political process," said Monika Kulma of the New America Foundation "The study shows that IRV will benefit all residents of Los Angeles," she added.
Click here for more on the latest on the campaign for IRV in LA
Deliberative Democracy Conference Gives New Vision to CA Reformers
The New America Foundation and Common Sense California organized a conference on Deliberative Democracy, held at Pepperdine University on February 23-24th. Gordon Gibson, who designed the Citizens' Assembly process for the British Columbia government, spoke about the BC experience in engaging 160 randomly selected members of the public in an eleven month process of study, consultation and deliberation on the topic of voting system reform. Newly elected Secretary of State Debra Bowen was the evening keynote speaker. Mr. Gibson's subsequent article "Democracy in America: One day they might get it right"about the potential for reform in California was published in the Toronto Globe & Mail while journalist Louis Freedbergon wrote "Power to the People" for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Survey Shows Overwhelming Support for Citizens Assembly
Nearly 3/4 of California Voters Would Like to See Panel Created
As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for more competition in elections, a survey commissioned by the New America Foundation finds that nearly three-quarters of California voters would like to see the governor and the Legislature create a citizen’s panel to explore political reform ideas for making the state’s election process more fair and competitive. If lawmakers did not convene the panel, two-thirds said they would vote for an initiative to create one. The findings identified overwhelming demand for better elections. Read the press release, or download the poll analysis, survey questions and results in PDF format.
Read Director Steven Hill's piece in the San Francisco Chronicle's Open Forum: "The way forward for political reform."
New Book: 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy
Choiceless elections. Suspicious voting equipment. Partisan election officials. Superficial political debate. Unresponsive government. Author Steven Hill, who directs New America's Political Reform Program, says that American democracy has been working about as well as the levees around New Orleans. Yet most Americans don’t know what to do about it.
Here, finally, is the plan -- 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy. Drawing upon 20 years of scholarship, advocacy, and two previous books, Hill offers a "onestop" shopping guide to what's broken about our democracy, and what Americans can do to repair it. Click here for more on this book, or here to see video from Hill's book event in Washington, D.C.
