FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EqualCitizens.US Announces National Ranked-Choice Voting Effort for 2020 Election

On the heels of Maine electing the first ever US Congress Member using Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV), fair election group EqualCitizens.US announced a campaign to pressure Presidential swing states across the nation to adopt RCV for the 2020 presidential election.

“Maine has shown us the system can work. It is time to carry that idea to the Presidential election generally.” said Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law professor and founder of EqualCitizens.US.

Under Ranked-Choice Voting, voters can rank their choices among the candidates on the ballot —  first, second, third, etc. First choices are then tallied. If no candidate gets 50 percent or more, the bottom candidate is dropped, and the second choice of those voters gets added to the tallies of the remaining candidates. If there is still no candidate with 50 percent or more, then the procedure is repeated, until there is a candidate who has the support of at least 50 percent of the voters. The results at each stage are reported, so early leads are known. But in the end, the ultimate winner has the support of at least half of voters.

A handful of municipalities in the United States use Ranked-Choice Voting, but Maine’s system is the first to affect a federal election. Ranked-Choice Voting has been shown to decrease negative campaigning and to guarantee that the winning candidate receives the support of at least a majority of voters. There is plenty of time to adopt Ranked-Choice Voting for the 2020 election.

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About Equal Citizens

EqualCitizens.US is a non-profit, founded by Lawrence Lessig, that is committed to achieving political equality within the United States