Voting and Election Reforms

Democracy is central to creating Wellbeing Economies.

The people we elect to represent us play a tremendous role in shaping the rules of the economy.

We are discovering new systems for electing representatives that would enable better representation of what the majority actually want.  We have seen how gerrymandering, primary elections and money in politics have supported polarization and undermined transformative legislation.

Here are two tools that can be transformative in changing how we elect representatives

STAR Voting Method

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) has been gaining ground in many states.  STAR Voting process provides better outcomes than RCV and was developed by a consortium of election specialists.

Current election processes nudge voters away from voting for who they really want to in favor of who they think is electable. Which creates a dilemma, who decides who is most electable? 

STAR voting eliminates the “electability” issue in a much better way than RCV does, because your second and third choices still matter.

This short video explains STAR Voting well and we also recommend this one with stuffed animals.

See STAR Voting or the Equal Vote Coalition  for more details.

Democracy Vouchers

Our current election process creates a need for candidates to spend lots of cash which distorts our politics in too many ways.  Jane Mayer’s Dark Money and Anne Nelson’s Shadow Network both shed extensive light on how this affects our local and national politics.

While we advocate for national legislation to reduce the influence of money in elections, we can use local Coalitions to advocate for changes to local and state election funding.

Democracy Policy Network has a toolbox of various action kits to promote healthy democracies.   Checkout their Democracy Voucher Toolkit which shows how states can establish a “democracy voucher” campaign finance system — in which residents are issued vouchers to ‘donate’ to candidates of their choice — to fight corruption and increase participation in the electoral process

Promoting Democratic Engagement and new Democratic Tools are essential to creating fair and just economies.  Reach out to us to have us help you get them started in your community.