Dear women's representation enthusiasts,

There were a number of significant milestones related to women's equality and representation this week including the anniversary of the day that the Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963 and the birthdays of many remarkable women including Kathy Spillar, the executive editor of Ms Magazine, former first ladies Martha Washington & Barbara Bush, Ms Foundation CEO Teresa Younger, Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Jeannette Rankin who was the 1st woman elected to Congress, in 1916.

Like most suffragists, Rankin was a republican and was elected from a multi-seat district in Montana which was then a heavily democratic state. Alarmed by her win, the democrats switched to single winner districts (which disadvantage women candidates) during her term, making it all but impossible for her to win re-election. She did run again and served one more term in the 1940s: she was the only member of Congress to vote against entry into both World Wars. Rankin was a suffragist and an avid supporter of a national popular vote for president and preferential voting - aka Ranked Choice Voting!

Amidst the news of the continuing pandemic and wide-spread protests of police violence there were some incredible victories for women candidates running for offices at the local, state, and federal levels this week. Jennifer Medina wrote an article in The New York Times about the election of Ella Jones as mayor of Ferguson, MO six years after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown

Dear women's representation enthusiasts!

As readers may remember, jurisdictions with ranked choice voting are electing more women to office for both executive and legislative offices than the norm in non-RCV cities. There have been some very successful uses of ranked choice voting this year by both major parties for primaries and party elections but the biggest news is that Massachusetts is well on its way to becoming the 2nd state to adopt RCV. If you care about democracy read this good piece in The Fulcrum about the effort and if you live in Massachusetts please sign the petition:

Voter Choice for Massachusetts 2020 announced Wednesday that it has smashed the signature requirement to get ranked-choice voting on the November ballot. Campaign workers say they are on pace to collect the most signatures for a ballot initiative in Massachusetts history.

In an email to supporters, the campaign said it has collected 17,084 raw signatures, and is averaging over 800 new signatures per day. It needs 13,347 verified signatures by June 17 to go before state voters in the general election.

If approved, Massachusetts in 2022 would become the second state, after nearby Maine, to adopt the system for electing all state executive officials, legislators and members of Congress.

"Thanks to our amazing volunteers, we're right on track to meet and exceed our campaign goal of 25,000" the campaign said.

According to the campaign, the signature validity rate is around 73 percent. This means it appears likely that the campaign has already cleared the necessary bar it needs to get to November, and should have more than enough cushion by the deadline.

Dear women's representation enthusiasts,

There were a number of great pieces tied to the celebration of Mother's Day which pointed to the contradiction between the Hallmark version of the holiday and the lived experiences of many, if not all, women. I especially loved a piece in The New York Times by Kim Brooks titled "Forget Pancakes. Pay Mothers" which challenges readers to think about the work of raising children and running households in the United States:

Dear fans of women's representation,

As the general election looms ever closer, concern about the voting process is intensifying. There was a great piece in The Fulcrum this week by LeeAnne Grapes about combining mailed ballots with ranked choice voting to ensure a healthy & safe voting process:

Of course, no one could have foreseen a pandemic upending life as we know it. But as the threat of coronavirus became increasingly pressing, the state's Democratic leadership responded by cancelling the in-person caucuses and instead mailing every registered Democrat a ballot that could be dropped off or mailed back.