National Elections
Fair Representation Voting in Federal Elections
Other countries provide a model for how to elect more women
The U.S. ranks behind over 100 other countries in terms of women's representation in elected office. What do those 100 countries have in common? Most of these countries use some form of fair representation voting and/or quota.
For example, the Australian parliament contains two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives - just like in the U.S. Voters elect the Senate through a form of proportional representation, while the House uses a winner-take-all system.
The graph below shows the stark difference in women's representation between the two chambers and their different electoral structures. The graph also shows the U.S. House of Representatives, which has consistently lagged behind the proportionally represented Australian Senate for over 70 years.
infogram_0_copy_women_in_australian_congressCopy: Women in Australian Congress//e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?Cw0text/javascript
How can the U.S. get back on track? The Fair Representation Act
The Fair Representation Act, introduced in Congress June 2017, would create multi-member congressional districts and implement ranked choice voting for congressional elections - all across the country.
This bill would restructure the House of Representatives so it could accurately reflect and represent the people of the U.S.