Dear readers,

Ranked Choice Voting Day is coming up on Monday, January 23rd! You may have seen that we’ve been counting down to RCV Day on our social media this week and providing some great ways to take action. We’re looking forward to bringing you the latest data in women’s representation and ranked choice voting next week.

Dear readers,

Now that the House has elected a Speaker and the members of Congress have been sworn in, we can turn our attention to the work ahead. Stories from this week show that building women's political power will take more than just seat gains. A 21st century democracy requires system reforms to ensure women can run, win, serve, and lead. 

Dear readers,

As I am writing this, the House of Representatives is now on their 10th vote for Speaker of the House, with no single candidate receiving a majority yet. In times like this, I am reminded of how much time and energy could be saved if ranked choice voting was used. The members of the House of Representatives cannot be sworn in to office until the Speaker is elected, which is hindering effective running of our democracy.

Dear readers,

Now that the Georgia Senate runoffs have finished, the election season has officially come to an end. If only GA had ranked choice voting, also sometimes called instant-runoff voting, we would have had results much sooner and saved everyone time, money, and energy by not having an additional election. This great article by Fairvote's Deb Otis and Matthew Oberstaedt sums up how ranked choice voting could be a better alternative to the current system.

Dear readers,

I am just back from a quick trip to NYC where RepresentWomen staffer Steph Scaglia and I attended the Relaunch Soiree for New Majority NYC. The incredible event was hosted by New Majority executive director Jessica Haller, and her terrific team, and was attended by almost every woman elected official in NYC one could dream of meeting! We had the chance to chat about ranked choice voting and women's representation with Ruth Messinger (former council member and Manhattan borough president), Tish James (NY Attorney General), Shahana Hanif (the first Muslim woman elected to the NYC Council), and many other very impressive young women leaders.

Many of us in the United States are taking a few days to enjoy time with friends and family so this week's blog will be short on content but full of gratitude.

I am grateful for a terrific team, a dedicated board, thoughtful funders, determined advocates, amazing allies, and courageous election administrators and elected officials who are working to build a 21st century democracy grounded in fairness & innovation.

Thanks to the many individuals and organizations for being part of the work to build women's political power.

Dear friends,

It has been a tumultuous week for election results in the United States! The race for governor of Arizona that featured two women candidates running against each other was called for Katie Hobbs, while victories for ranked choice voting were confirmed in Nevada and Seattle. The Alaska Board of Elections is scheduled the run the RCV tally on Wednesday, November 23rd but it's looking quite likely that Democrat Mary Peltola will win the state's lone House seat and Republican Lisa Murkowski will win re-election to the U.S. Senate. Nevada voters also passed the most comprehensive state equal rights amendment in the nation on election day.

Over the coming weeks, we will be transferring our extensive Blog and OpEd library to this new site. Check back for the latest in thought leadership from RepresentWomen!

Over the past week, RepresentWomen has been mentioned and featured by various publications and organizations! From op-eds written by our team to our insightful research reports, we're grateful that more and more people are interested in the structural solutions to strengthen democracy and increase women's representation.

Dear readers --

From releasing our newest research report to preparing for the election, the team and I have been busy this week! With midterms right around the corner, here's a quick look at what election outcomes RepresentWomen will be tracking.