Political innovations that can improve our elections is the topic for Book Group members at our next meeting, May 29, at the Skylark Cafe, 4:30 - 6:00 pm.
Members will read the 2020 The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy, by Kathryn Gehl, Michael E. Porter, and Mike Gallagher.
The authors believe our political system is not broken, but fixed, and not fixed to serve the public good. One of the innovations promoted by the authors is Final Five voting, which combines a top-5 primary election and ranked choice voting in the general election. Alaska recently implemented this change.
The Alaska model:
Watch:
RCV is Working in Alaska!
A Democracy Solutions Summit was held on March 5, 2024, by the organization, RepresentWomen. In this 30 minute interview, Amy Walter interviewed Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, and State Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel about Alaska’s new system. All three officials were elected using Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). They discuss how RCV is working to reduce negative campaigning and elect state legislators who are working effectively across partisan divides. Watch the interview here. (Hint: skip to minute 3 for the beginning of the interview.)
Kathryn Gehl, one of the authors of our May book choice shares her thoughts in this
TED Talk, which also includes examples of how Ranked Choice Voting works.
—Annette Holcomb