Program Links
IRV in Los Angeles
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Labor Legend Dolores Huerta Endorses IRV
Legendary union leader Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers Union with Cesar Chavez, has endorsed IRV. In a few short months, IRV has been gaining strong union support. Earlier, the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild (American Federation of Teachers 1521A) and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance also announced their support for IRV.
Click here for more on the latest on the campaign for IRV in LA.
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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| How to Make Primaries Balanced, More Relevant | January 20, 2008 |
| Stop Imposing 'Captive Speech' on Employees | November 17, 2007 |
| Republican Power Grab Returns to California | November 11, 2007 |
| How to Revive Redistricting Reform | October 18, 2007 |
| Election Security That Works | October 3, 2007 |
| Building a Better Presidential Election | September 8, 2007 |
| Legislators Fiddle While Earth Warms | August 3, 2007 |
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 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 |
| Does British Columbia's Citizens Assembly Offer a Magic Key to Realizing Your Own Democratic Reform Agenda? | September 16, 2005 |
Press
| Headline | Date |
|---|---|
| L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce Endorses Key Election Reform | May 13, 2008 |
| Steven Hill in Newsday | Will Candidates Falter Without Independents? | January 28, 2008 |
| Steven Hill's NYT Letter to the Editor Regarding Krugman Column, Europe's Social Contract | January 11, 2008 |
| Steven Hill in Financial Times on California Political Reform | November 15, 2007 |
| Gautam Dutta Named Deputy Director of Political Reform Program | August 1, 2007 |
| Los Angeles Times Quotes Lynne Serpe on Instant Runoff Voting | June 11, 2007 |
| New Study Highlights Problems with Runoff Elections in Los Angeles | April 11, 2007 |
| Steven Hill on Independents and Primaries in San Francisco Chronicle | March 7, 2007 |
| David Lesher on California Independents in San Francisco Chronicle | February 26, 2007 |
| Voice of America Reports on New America's Ten Big Ideas Event | February 3, 2007 |
Staff
Program Staff
- Steven Hill
Director, Political Reform Program - Gautam Dutta
Deputy Director, Political Reform Program
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
Instant Runoff Voting Gains Momentum in Los Angeles
After a public hearing that was packed with members of the public, the Los Angeles city council voted unanimously to instruct the City Clerk to study instant runoff voting, all mail balloting and other reforms for LA elections. IRV enjoyed strong support from several members of the City Council as well as numberous voting rights, good government and community groups. IRV has gained media attention from the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, and the Daily Breeze. Click here for more details.
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 recent book event in Washington, D.C.
