Adam Friedman » Electoral Reform

Governing: 2014 Elections Where Third-Party Candidates Could Make a Big Difference

Adam — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 22:52:29 +0000

This is a reprint from Governing magazine. Click here to read the original article. I find such reports eery in their glib observations that the presence of third candidates could make “a big difference” or make for “interesting outcomes.” The elephant in the room — the dirty design flaw of our voting system that subverts [...]

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Massachusetts State Senate passes an incredible election law upgrade

Adam — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 18:55:51 +0000

Over 20 years have gone by without a significant update to our state’s voting laws. Meanwhile, dozens of other states are adopting online voter registration, early voting, no-excuse absentee voting, post-election security audits, and more. A grand coalition of over 30 grassroots organizations and led by MassVOTE and Common Cause, have been pushing hard for an [...]

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Ranked-choice voting would protect us from crowded-field chaos

Adam — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 17:17:04 +0000

[Note: This opinion piece was written during the 2013 Boston mayoral preliminary election.] In an age when powerful incumbents thwart new challengers, draping our civic life in drab monotony, the twelve-candidate potpourri vying to be Boston’s next mayor should be a breath of fresh air. Instead, voters are gasping, choking with choices, cautiously checking the [...]

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Washington Post endorses ranked choice voting

Adam — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:07:50 +0000

It’s great to see major media outlets support game-changing reforms like ranked choice voting (aka, “instant runoff voting”): The next regular round of council and local elections is slated for next year. So it’s important to look beyond the personalities of the recent election to the processes that allowed a citywide representative to be elected [...]

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WSJ Graphic: Ranked Choice Voting explained

Adam — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:47:56 +0000

A great visual showing how ranked choice voting works, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.

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Campaign ad warning labels

Adam — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 05:42:17 +0000

Just as tobacco companies are allowed to sell products that endanger our physical health, so are we permitting any corporation to pour millions into ad campaigns to endanger the health of our political discourse — with their profit-driven, special-interest propaganda. Fine, let’s just ensure they all come tagged with a nifty “Attorney General’s warning,” to [...]

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How unions, real estate developers, and Democrats stifle the inner city to ensure their own income

Adam — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:53:52 +0000

According to Honest Graft a compendium of evidence of special-interest corruption decaying our democracy, author and Wall Street Journal reporter Brooks Jackson aptly synthesizes a complex entanglement that many do-good liberals don’t realize they are funding, when they support their local union PAC or Democratic campaign committee: “[The need to raise money] does affect legislation. [...]

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“A Florida ‘runoff benefit’?” by Brian C. Mooney

Adam — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 03:06:05 +0000

[Adam’s note: Just found this gem on the web while doing research for my upcoming workshop on IRV at the 2012 College Convention. My own Congressman (Capuano) won the Dem primary with 23 percent of the vote — a paltry mandate.] Boston Globe, 4/15/2001 — written by Brian C. Mooney Democracy is imperfect, as last [...]

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Better runoff in an instant

Adam — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:47:59 +0000

Published as an Op-Ed in the Boston Herald: Boston taxpayers, take heed: You just paid $29 per ballot to elect a city councilor. You probably could’ve used that extra money for a half-tank of gas, or a night out at your favorite restaurant. Instead, you spent an estimated $83,000 so that 7 percent (2,886) of [...]

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Majority overruled: why our 3,000-year-old voting system needs an upgrade

Adam — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 01:31:59 +0000

If you thought John Kerry was a flip-flopper, then get a load of the candidates for the Massachusetts 10th Congressional open seat: Republican Jeff Perry caught fire and began peeling support away from the Democratic front-runner, William Keating. Then, out of nowhere, two lifelong career Democrats entered the race as un-enrolled candidates with tea party [...]

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