🗳️ To Build a Better Ballot: Voting Reform Discussion

This is the first meeting of our new "Local Action" series, with the long-term goal of investigating important, tractable and neglected problems in Albuquerque and New Mexico and working together to tackle at least one such problem and drive positive change in our city and beyond.

To start, we'll be discussing voting reform with an introduction through this fun and educational essay/game by Nicky Case: To Build a Better Ballot.

Please play through the interactive guide in advance of the meeting and come with at least one discussion question you'd like to ask the group! For instance:

• Which voting system do you think is best? Why? Is the ideal voting system different from the best one to push for in practice (considering ease of implementation, political momentum, etc)?
• Do you agree with Nicky that voting reform will "give us the biggest bang-for-buck?" How might we weigh it against other improvements to democracy or other pressing problems?
• Santa Fe and Las Cruces use Ranked Choice voting since 2018 and 2019. How does that position Albuquerque for voting reform?
• Are you interested in working on voting reform? What other cause areas should we consider?

Bonus resources:

• FairVote: Ranked Choice Voting in New Mexico
• Albuquerque City Council votes against RCV in 2019
• Voting Methods Cause Exploration on EA Forum
• 80,000 podcast with Aaron Hamlin of the Center for Election Science
• 80,000 podcast on Digital Democracy with Audrey Tang, covers Polis and its implementation it Taiwan

Thanks to a grant from Open Philanthropy, we are proud to be able to cover the cost of dinner for all attendees! 🥘