Can breakfast foods help demonstrate ways to reduce political polarization? That was the challenge in an exercise called “What’s for Breakfast?” presented by
FairVote Washington and co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Bellingham/Whatcom County.
The program, at the Bellingham Public Library on December 14, 2024, was called “Bridging the Political Divide in Whatcom County.” In the exercise “What’s for Breakfast?”, a group of about 75 participants voted for breakfast foods using three different methods; a traditional method and two ranked choice methods. A proportional ranked choice method produced winners that satisfied almost everyone.
In November 2024, Portland, Oregon started using a proportional ranked choice voting method to elect a new city council. Our speaker, Robin Ye, was a Portland Charter Review Commissioner. He described the 18 month process the commission used to choose a new voting structure for Portland.
In Whatcom County, a Charter Review Commission is elected every 10 years to review the County Charter and recommend updates. The County Charter defines elected county offices and the way county elections are conducted. As cities and counties around the country, including Multnomah County in Oregon, discuss and experiment with alternative voting methods, the Whatcom Charter Review Commissioners have the opportunity to consider whether to recommend changes to Whatcom County’s voting methods. All recommendations must be approved by Whatcom voters in order to be applied to the Charter.
The Washington State League of Women Voters has studied election methods for decades, and recently produced an education project, Multi-Member Districts, that examines the topic of proportional representation.
Important questions include: Could there be a better way to conduct elections that encourages more issue oriented campaigns and finds more common ground? Could there be a way that bridges the political divide?
If you or a group you belong to would like to learn more about proportional representation and multi-member districts, local volunteers will be glad to tailor a program for the interests of your group. There are two presentations available:
1) Multi-Member Districts by the Washington State League of Women Voters, and
2) Proportional Ranked-Choice Voting by the local Whatcom Chapter of FairVote Washington.
For more information, please contact
Kit.Travis@yahoo.com.
RESOURCES
Protect Democracy: Proportional Representation Explained. This excellent, extensive webpage covers polarization, gerrymandering, extremism, problems with winner-take-all, biased outcomes, and a 9 minute video well worth watching. The video covers several proportional voting methods in addition to the proportional ranked choice voting method demonstrated on Saturday.
Does ranked choice Voting Increase voter turnout and mobilization? Eveline Dowling, Caroline Tolbert, Nathan Micatka, & Todd Donovan, Electoral Studies (6/8) “We find significant and substantially higher probabilities of turnout in places that use RCV, and find evidence that campaigns in RCV places have greater incidences of direct voter contacting than in similar places that do not use RCV.” This is the study Alan McConchie referred to in the presentation.
League of Women Voters of Washington Education Project - Multi-Member Districts.This education project covers the history of multi-member districts in the United states, without advocating for a particular voting method. The page includes videos made by the Portland League and the Washington League about multi-member districts.
Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez wants to look at changing how we conduct elections. Danny Westneat, Seattle Times (WA) (11/30) “[A] proposal was introduced last week by Southwest Washington U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, for a select committee to look at alternatives to ‘our current winner-take-all electoral system.’ The ideas include using multimember districts, expanding the U.S. House, ranked choice voting systems, open primaries and independent redistricting commissions.
The rest of the country should learn from Alaska’s successful ranked-choice voting experiment. Matt Claman & Cathy Giessel, The Seattle Times (WA) (7/12) “Another reason the “Alaska Model” works so well is our system of open primaries combined with ranked-choice general elections… The ranked-choice system encourages civility in our elections because candidates must appeal to all voters, not just a small base that belongs to their party.”
Ranked Choice Voting Video Explainer
Better Elections Are Possible. This video explains proportional ranked choice voting, the tabulation, and some of the benefits.