The State of Ranked Choice Voting

Ranked choice voting is the fastest-growing election reform in the nation and, with two statewide and several municipal ballot measures happening this year, 2024 is the biggest year yet for ranked choice voting. Day one of the 2024 Democracy Solutions Summit brings to the table the women who have been, and continue to be, vital to this work. From US Senators to top women philanthropists to grassroots campaign leaders, we will hear all about the state of ranked choice voting. 

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Madam President – Strategies to Elect our First Woman President

Despite women breaking barriers every year since the beginning of time, some nations, including the United States, still have never had a woman head of state. In the thick of primaries season with the general presidential election approaching, what a perfect time to ask ourselves why that is and how we can change that. Day two is dedicated to hearing from women themselves about what it's like to run for higher office in the United States, what barriers women face, and what solutions could remedy those barriers. We will discuss how ranked choice voting for presidential primaries levels the playing field for women candidates, as well as address the ambition myth, innovations in violence against women in politics, and how legislative pay could greatly reduce barriers for women to serve in higher office.

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Panel: Power Like You've Never Seen – Ways Women are Crafting a New and Improved Way of Governing

Time: 3:05 - 3:55pm ET

Now more than ever, people around the world are challenging the status quo and demanding a new way of governing that doesn't involve binary choices, zero-sum thinking, and aggressive competition. In this inspiring conversation, you will hear about several real-life initiatives that have shifted the paradigms of power by bringing inclusivity, compassion, and citizens back to the center to transform government engagement. 

Expert Discussion 1: Non-Electoral Solutions to Building Women's Political Power

Time: 3:55 - 4:25pm ET

As the United States sees more and more diverse women serving in office, it's becoming apparent that the government workplace is not always a safe and productive place for women. Women electeds not only deal with issues like sexual harassment and racism, they sometimes don't even have access to a women's restroom. In our very own US Senate, women senators didn't have access to a private "senators only" restroom until the 1990s. The existing "senators only" restroom was for men only. In this conversation, we highlight a few exciting and impactful programs to reduce barriers so that women legislators can serve and lead effectively.

Expert Discussion 2: Electoral Solutions to Building Women's Political Power

Time: 4:25 - 4:55pm ET

We round out our third annual Democracy Solutions Summit with a fireside chat conversation about two very powerful policy solutions that have a proven track record of removing barriers for women to run and win: gender quotas and the single-transferable vote system. We will hear directly from women experts whose countries deploy these systems to learn how these policy solutions work, and the impact they've had on women in their countries.

Introduction

Michelle Milford Morse

VP of Girls & Women Strategy at UN Foundation

Michelle Milford Morse is Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy. Previously Michelle was a member of the global health policy and advocacy team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Expert Discussion 1: Running for President as a Woman in America

Judy Woodruff

Senior Correspondent and Former Anchor and Managing Editor of the PBS NewsHour

Judy Woodruff is a senior correspondent and the former anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour. She has covered politics and other news for five decades at NBC, CNN and PBS.

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Kimberly Peeler-Allen

Political Strategist

Kimberly Peeler-Allen has been working at the intersection of race, gender and politics for over 20 years. Over the course of her career Kimberly has advised elected officials, candidates and organizations on fundraising, political strategy and coalition building to ensure that there are more diverse voices around decision making tables whether they are in elected bodies or civil society. Peeler-Allen is the Co-founder of Higher Heights, a national organization building the political power and leadership of Black women from the voting booth to elected office.

Expert Discussion 2: Ranked Choice Voting for Presidential Primaries

Amber McReynolds

National Elections Expert and USPS Board of Governors

Amber McReynolds is one of the country’s leading experts on election administration, policy, and innovation. In 2021, Amber was appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as a Governor for the United States Postal Service.

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Rina Shah

Political Consultant & CEO of Rilax Strategies

Rina Shah is a strategic consultant, media commentator, & millennial entrepreneur based in Washington, DC. Prior to launching Rilax Strategies – a government and public affairs firm - Rina served as a senior staffer to Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-5) and Rep. Jeff B. Miller (FL-1).

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Candice Kerestan

Political Consultant

Candice Kerestan is a political consultant focused on making American elections work better for voters both at home and abroad.

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Take Action Panel: Addressing the Ambition Myth, Violence Against Women in Politics, and Legislative Pay

Erin Loos Cutraro

Founder & CEO of She Should Run

Erin Loos Cutraro is the founder and CEO of She Should Run, the trailblazing nonpartisan nonprofit on a mission to revolutionize the landscape of women in American political leadership by shattering barriers and redefining possibilities for women in elected leadership.

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Gowri Ramachandran

Deputy Director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program

Gowri Ramachandran serves as deputy director in the Brennan Center’s Democracy program. Her work focuses on election security, election administration, and combatting election disinformation. She is the lead author of the Brennan Center's recent study entitled Intimidation of State and Local Officeholders.

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Erin Vilardi

CEO & Founder of Vote Run Lead

Erin Vilardi is the Founder and CEO of Vote Run Lead, the nation’s largest and most diverse training program for women to run for office and win. She first launched the program as Vice President of Program and Communications at The White House Project.

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Juliana Menasce Horowitz

Associate Director of Research at Pew Research Center

Juliana Horowitz is associate director of research at Pew Research Center, where she oversees research on social and demographic trends. She is the lead author of the 2023 Pew study entitled Women and Political Leadership Ahead of the 2024 Election.

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Glynda Carr

CEO and Co-Founder of Higher Heights for America

As president, CEO and co-founder of Higher Heights for America, Glynda C. Carr is at the center of the national movement to grow Black women’s political power from the voting booth to elected office.

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Juliana Horowitz is associate director of research at Pew Research Center, where she oversees research on social and demographic trends. She is involved in all stages of the research process, including designing and managing major survey projects, developing questionnaires, analyzing polling data, writing reports and presenting survey results. She has conducted research and written on various social issues, including racial attitudes, cross-national views of gender equality, and the changing American family, and also has worked actively on the Center’s U.S. politics and global attitudes research efforts. Before joining Pew Research Center in 2006, Horowitz worked at the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland. She received a doctorate in political science from the University of Maryland at College Park. Horowitz regularly presents findings from the Center’s studies to the policy and academic communities and has been interviewed by numerous domestic and international media outlets.

Erin Vilardi is the Founder and CEO of Vote Run Lead, the nation’s largest and most diverse training program for women to run for office and win. She first launched the program as Vice President of Program and Communications at The White House Project.

She has served as a Leadership Development Consultant for a range of clients, including Fortune 100 companies, global girls’ initiatives, and the U.S. Department of State. Vilardi is the co-author of the Athena CORE10©, an innovative set of leadership competencies for 21st century women leaders based on the latest research and gender analysis for the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College.

She was named a 2019 NYU Alumni Changemaker and a 2018 Champion of Change from UN Women NY. She has appeared on the mainstage at Personal Democracy Forum and the Skoll World Forum, on CNN, BBC, and Fox News and her work was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, New York Magazine, among others. She is an Executive Producer of Ann Richards’ Texas, a documentary about the late pioneering governor.

Gowri Ramachandran serves as deputy director in the Brennan Center’s Democracy program. Her work focuses on election security, election administration, and combatting election disinformation.

Before joining the Brennan Center, she was professor of law at Southwestern Law School, in Los Angeles, California, where she taught courses in constitutional law, employment discrimination, critical race theory, and the Ninth Circuit Appellate Litigation Clinic. Her work was published in Election Law Journal, North Carolina Law Review, and Yale Law Journal online, among others. She served on the Ninth Circuit’s Fairness Committee, which considers racial, religious, gender, and other disparities in the administration of justice.

Ramachandran received her undergraduate degree in mathematics from Yale College and a master’s degree in statistics from Harvard University. While in law school, she served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. After graduating from law school in 2003, Ramachandran served as law clerk to Judge Sidney R. Thomas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Billings, Montana.

Erin Loos Cutraro is the founder and CEO of She Should Run, the trailblazing nonpartisan nonprofit on a mission to revolutionize the landscape of women in American political leadership by shattering barriers and redefining possibilities for women in elected leadership. Since its inception, She Should Run has become a beacon of empowerment, offering powerful first steps in civic leadership to hundreds of thousands of women from all walks of life whose formidable leadership potential would go otherwise untapped in conventional political recruitment.

Before joining She Should Run, Erin designed and implemented strategic programs for companies, campaigns, and organizations that traverse the public policy, nonprofit, and financial business arenas. As the political director of the Women’s Campaign Fund, Erin advised female candidates at the national, state, and local levels. Before that, she served at an educational nonprofit and in state government in the Office of Missouri’s Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, whom she helped elect statewide as part of Carnahan's campaign team in 2004.

Erin began her career as a public school teacher and has a life-long dedication to improving the lives of others through learning. She earned an M.A. in Communication from St. Louis University and B.A. in Education from the University of Missouri.

Erin's two daughters motivate her to champion the systematic and cultural change needed to see gender equality for women and girls in our lifetime.

Rina Shah is a strategic consultant, media commentator, & millennial entrepreneur based in Washington, DC. Prior to launching Rilax Strategies – a government and public affairs firm - Rina served as a senior staffer to Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-5) and Rep. Jeff B. Miller (FL-1).  Her expertise includes building winning strategies for political campaigns as well as coordinating public affairs efforts for Fortune 500 companies.

She currently serves as an Advisor to VoteRunLead, Spokeswoman for NextGen GOP, a 2015 Founder of RightNOW Women PAC, Co-Chair of Concord 51's DC Chapter, and as an inaugural member of the U.S. House of Representatives Republican Conference's Indian American Advisory Council.

Amber McReynolds is one of the country’s leading experts on election administration, policy, and innovation. In 2021, Amber was appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as a Governor for the United States Postal Service. Amber is focused on strengthening and modernizing democracy and improving the civic health of our nation. She is co-author of the book ‘When Women Vote’, and is currently a senior strategic advisor to various national organizations including Issue One, Election Reformers Network, and others. Amber has dedicated her career to improving the voting process for all: first as an election official, serving as the Director of Elections for the City and County of Denver, Colorado and leading efforts to improve and modernize the voting experience in Colorado; then as a thought leader and founding CEO for a nonpartisan election reform organization; and now collaborating and supporting various organizations across the US. Amber has proven that designing pro-voter policies, voter-centric processes, and modernizing technology will improve the voting experience for all. Her efforts garnered national and international awards and helped to shape Colorado’s vote-by-mail expansion in 2013. In 2018, Governing Magazine named her as a Top Public Official of the Year for her work to improve the voting process. She was also recognized as a 2020 Top Women in Business in Colorado. Amber also served on the Colorado Independent Legislative Redistricting Commission in 2021.

Amber currently serves on the National Task Force on Election Crises, the National Council on Election Integrity, Advisory Board for the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, as an advisor to Vot-ER, Civic Resolve Advisory Board, and Represent Women Board of Directors.

Amber holds a Masters of Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Amber enjoys spending time with her two children - Klara (12) and Kenton (10).

EXPERT DISCUSSION 1: DEEP DIVE ON ALASKA

Senator Lisa Murkowski

Lisa Murkowski, Alaska’s senior U.S. Senator, is a third generation Alaskan proudly serving as the first Alaskan born senator. Murkowski was born in Ketchikan and raised in towns across the state, including Wrangell, Juneau, Fairbanks, and Anchorage.

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Representative Mary Peltola

Mary Sattler Peltola is a Yup’ik Eskimo, salmon advocate, and Democrat who represented the Bethel region in the Alaska House of Representatives for 10 years. As a lawmaker, Mary helped rebuild the Bush Caucus that improved lives in rural Alaska under her tenure as Chair. 

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State Senator Cathy Giessel

AK State Senator Cathy Giessel was born & raised in the community of Fairbanks, and in the Territory of Alaska. She has served in the State Senate from 2011 through 2020, and again from 2023 to present. She served as Senate president from 2019 through 2020, and her focus has been on state resource development, health topics, arctic issues, and budget.

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Amy Walter

Amy Walter is the Publisher and Editor-In-Chief of The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. For more than 25 years, Amy Walter has built a reputation as an accurate, objective, and insightful political analyst with unparalleled access to campaign insiders and decision-makers.

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EXPERT DISCUSSION 2: THE WOMEN FUNDING THE MOVEMENT

Winny Chen

Associate Director for the Governance program at Democracy Fund

Winny Chen is the Associate Director for the Governance program at Democracy Fund, an independent foundation working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise to the American people.

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Laura Arnold

Philanthropist and co-founder of Arnold Ventures

Laura Arnold, born Laura Munoz, is an American philanthropist and activist. Together with her husband, the retired hedge fund manager John D. Arnold, she is the co-founder of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and the grantmaking organization Arnold Ventures.

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Kathryn Murdoch

Co-Founder and President of the Quadrivium Foundation

Kathryn Murdoch is co-founder and president of Quadrivium, which supports practical, evidence-based solutions for critical societal problems. Kathryn currently serves on the boards of Unite America, the Climate Leadership Council and Climate Central. She is a founding board member of SciLine and co-chairs the Oceans and Communications committees as a trustee of the Environmental Defense Fund.

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TAKE ACTION PANEL: 2024 RANKED CHOICE VOTING BALLOT MEASURES

Diane Silver

Advocacy Manager at FairVote

Diane Silver is FairVote's Advocacy Manager, working to expand support for national ranked choice voting legislation as well as capacity building for state and local RCV efforts.

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Sol Mora

Political Director at Oregon Ranked Choice Voting Advocates

Sol Mora was born in Tijuana, Mexico, and grew up in Salem, Oregon. Sol is the Political Director at Oregon Ranked Choice Voting Advocates, working to pass RCV statewide this year.

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Lisa Rice

Make All Votes Count (Washington, DC)

Lisa is a political strategist, passionate about reform and political innovation. She is active in bringing productive change to U.S. politics.

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Alliana Salanguit

Deputy Director for Alaskans for Better Elections

Alliana Salanguit is the Deputy Director for Alaskans for Better Elections. Alaskans for Better Elections is a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to providing public education and research about how Alaska-style elections work. The 501(c)(3) foundation and 501(c)(4) corporation are governed by directors that include Alaskans with diverse political views from every corner of the state.

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Sol Mora (she/ella) grew up in Salem, Oregon, and graduated from Portland State University with a bachelor's degree in Women's Studies. Sol has worked as a community organizer and coalition manager for several years, with a focus on creating a more equitable government and democracy, including serving as the Advocacy Director at the Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC). Most recently, Sol served as the Campaign Manager of Portland United for Change to pass charter reform, measure 26-228, in Portland, Oregon. The measure passed with 58% voter support, and includes adopting both multi-winner and single-winner ranked choice voting. Currently, Sol is the Political Director at Oregon Ranked Choice Voting Advocates where she focuses on managing and growing the coalition to pass ranked choice voting at the statewide level in Oregon.

Diane Silver is FairVote's Advocacy Manager, working to expand support for national ranked choice voting legislation as well as capacity building for state and local RCV efforts.

Before joining FairVote in November, 2019, Diane worked as an environmental educator. For 10 years she coordinated a local watershed project, doing education and outreach to build partnerships with landowners to implement best management practices for water quality protection and stream restoration. She brings those education and outreach skills to the RCV effort. She has also served as a program director at several residential EE centers, supervising field instructors, writing curriculum, and managing program logistics. She did wildlife education at the Cincinnati Zoo, had a short stint as a classroom teacher in math and science, and in a previous life, worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to her home-state Senator.

Diane holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Psychology from Claremont McKenna College and a Master of Science degree in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan. In her non-work life she plays the fiddle, leads contra dancing (a form of American folk dance), and enjoys hiking and kayaking.

Laura Arnold, born Laura Munoz, is an American philanthropist and activist. Together with her husband, the retired hedge fund manager John D. Arnold, she is the co-founder of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and the grantmaking organization Arnold Ventures. She is also a founding partner of the REFORM Alliance, which opposes incarcerating criminals and raises funds to cover fines, fees, and restitution payments. Throughout her philanthropy career, Laura Arnold has primarily focused on promoting left-of-center criminal justice, health care, and education policies. Previously, she held an executive position with a Texas oil corporation and worked as a corporate attorney, having attended Harvard University and Yale Law School.

Arnold supported the Biden administration’s move to partially cancel student debt via executive action in August 2022, which the Supreme Court ruled to be unconstitutional in June 2023. She has also claimed that sentencing criminals to probation is a “trap” and that supervision violations should not be treated as additional criminal offenses. In addition, Arnold has pushed for private grantmaking institutions to fund research aimed at supporting policies which would restrict Second Amendment rights.

Winny Chen is the Associate Director for the Governance program at Democracy Fund, an independent foundation working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise to the American people.

Prior to Democracy Fund, she worked at Monitor Deloitte, where she advised federal agencies and social sector organizations on enterprise strategy, strategic planning, performance measurement, and communications. She also served on the Crimes Against Humanity Program at Human Rights First and worked as a policy analyst on the National Security and International Policy team at the Center for American Progress.

Winny holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree from Georgetown University.

AK State Senator Cathy Giessel was born & raised in the community of Fairbanks, and in the Territory of Alaska. She attended Lathrop High School (with future attorney general, chief justice, several attorneys & doctors, Fairbanks assembly members and other state senators. We had a great class!), earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and her Masters of Science in Nursing from the University of Alaska Anchorage. She worked as an RN (50 years) and Advanced Nurse Practitioner (24 years). She's been married to her husband Richard (civil engineer, retired teacher) for 50 years, and has three children and nine grandchildren.

She has served in the State Senate from 2011 through 2020, and again from 2023 to present. She served as Senate president from 2019 through 2020, and her focus has been on state resource development, health topics, arctic issues, and budget. In her free time, she likes to volunteer at the Alaska Health Fairs, serve on the Alaska Behavioral Health Board of Directors, Anchorage School District school-based clinics, Beacon Hill Safe Families for Children, and serves on the Alaskans for Better Elections Foundation board of directors.

Mary Sattler Peltola is a Yup’ik Eskimo, salmon advocate, and Democrat who represented the Bethel region in the Alaska House of Representatives for 10 years. As a lawmaker, Mary helped rebuild the Bush Caucus that improved lives in rural Alaska under her tenure as Chair. As Executive Director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, she helped mobilize 118 Tribes and rural Alaskans to advocate for the protection of salmon runs in Western Alaska. Mary served on the Orutsararmiut Native Council Tribal Court and the Bethel City Council. Mary was raised on the Kuskokwim River in Kwethluk, Tuntutuliak, Platinum, and Bethel. She began fishing commercially with her father when she was six years old.

As a lifelong Alaskan, Mary is adamantly Pro-Jobs, Pro-Fish, Pro-Family and Pro-Choice.