Table of Contents
- Fueling the Fight for Net Neutrality
- Embracing Ranked-Choice Voting as a Pathway to Pluralism
- Measuring U.S. Drone Use and Misuse
- Fulfilling the Promise of Child Savings Accounts
- Linking the Individual Mandate and Social Responsibility
- Tracking Terrorism in the United States
- Early Education Doesn't End at Pre-K
- Making Higher Education Outcomes Transparent
- Redefining Care Policy
- Using TV "White Spaces" to Create Equitable Internet Access
- Investing in America's Future Thinkers
- Proposing the Public Option
- Creating a Public Interest Technology Sector
- Building a New Practice of Public Problem-Solving
- Expanding Access to High School-Age Youth for High-Quality Apprenticeship Opportunities
- Engaging North Korea
- A Universal 401(k) Plan
- Measuring the Internet for Everyone
- Rethinking Economic Policy
- Documenting the Long Wars
- Ranking Digital Rights
- Future Tense
- Using Fiction to Make Policy More…Realistic
- Pop-Up Magazine
- Developing an MA in Global Security
- Helping Communities Deploy Mesh Networks
- Partnering with Universities
Embracing Ranked-Choice Voting as a Pathway to Pluralism
Idea
American democracy should embody the true pluralism of our country—the many backgrounds, ideas, religious traditions, and institutions that define our shared experience—and our systems of voting and representation should encourage responsiveness and new coalitions in the face of changing public challenges. That’s why, since 2005, New America has gone beyond familiar solutions to improve democracy to explore real alternatives to the winner-take-all election structures that shut out new ideas and new coalitions.
Incubation
In the 2000s, New America fellows advocated instant-runoff voting in San Francisco and other localities, and more recently, New America’s Political Reform Program has been one of the leading voices for both ranked-choice voting and multi-member legislative districts. These two electoral structures ensure that more viewpoints are reflected and that candidates have to seek broad support.
Impact
With Maine becoming the first state to implement ranked-choice voting and to use it to determine the outcome of a congressional race, we have the beginnings of a real test of these ideas, and the Political Reform program will continue to study them closely, looking for lessons for other states and for ideas to improve this innovative system.