Dear Readers,
Election Day is Tuesday, November 5! Have you made your plan to vote yet? Every vote cast directly impacts your community – from city council and school
board elections to the White House. In addition to the candidates on the ballot box, there are a number of ballot questions that, if enacted, would improve the systems used to elect candidates in those states. RepresentWomen’s State Partnerships Director Tamaya Dennard and Research Intern Rechelle Guitterez authored a compelling voter guide outlining the systems changes, like RCV, in these ballot measures:
- Washington D.C. Initiative 83: This initiative will determine whether D.C. will implement ranked choice voting and allow unaffiliated voters to participate in primary elections
- Oregon Measure 117: implement ranked choice voting for state and federal primary and general elections
- Colorado Proposition 131: replace the state’s semi-closed primary system with ranked choice voting and top-four primary elections
- Idaho Prop 1: Adopt top-four open primaries and ranked-choice voting for state, county, and gubernatorial elections.
- Nevada Question 3: Implementing ranked choice voting and open primaries
- Montana CI-126 & CI-127: open Montana’s primary elections and adopt ranked-choice voting.
2024 is also a watershed year for women’s representation in federal, state, and local races. Unprecedented Momentum: Black Women Candidates Reshape Political Power in 2024 explores races up and down the ballot where Black women run for office and the presidency. RW’s Research Associate Marvelous Maeze writes: Supporting Black women candidates this election season fosters more effective advocacy for innovative policies and challenges prevailing norms, marking a significant stride toward more representative democracy. Black women play an essential role in driving progress in the United States, and it is past-due that they are represented fairly in government and in all places where policy is being made..
International Research Manager Fatma Tawfik, Ruhamah Ifere, and Florence Malorbah Dorley provide a global perspective on the 2024 United States elections in Kamala Harris' Candidacy: An International Perspective. The US Presidential Election is one of nine significant elections worldwide this November. Combined, these elections have the potential to dramatically increase the amount of women serving in public office and grow women’s political power around the globe. These advocates are all part of our Global Advocates for Parity (GAP) Network, an international collective of researchers and academics advocating for systems changes that elect women around the globe, like proportional representation and gender quotas.
To elect more women up and down the ballot, we need to do more than create a pipeline of women interested in running for office. We need to build an authentic community of women, their supporters, and systems all working together to build a representative democracy. Feminist organizations like RepresentWomen drive that change, but the best way to build women’s political power is at your local ballot box. Outreach Manager Alissa Bombardier Shaw examines the feelings of RepresentWomen’s staff at this complex moment in history in this opinion piece: Tell Us How You Really Feel: Behind the Scenes of a Feminist Organization Before an Historic Election. Remember to contact your local election administrator directly or use nonpartisan resources like vote.org and canivote.org to get up-to-date information on casting your ballot by Election Day.
Examining the Gender Divide in Candidate Preferences
Source: Vox and Quinnipiac Polls
Women’s voices are vital for shaping dynamic policies and fostering a representative democracy in the United States. With the 2024 presidential election underway, this Quinnipiac poll highlights the gender breakdown of candidate preferences in key swing states. In 2024, women are running for office at all levels of government, and it will be interesting to see if this trend continues in down-ballot races.
Most recently, a late October Quinnipiac survey of Michigan found 57 percent of women in the state back Vice President Kamala Harris, while 40 percent of men did the same. Conversely, 56 percent of men backed former President Donald Trump, while 37 percent of women did. That’s repeatedly been the case in national polls, too. For example, a recent poll from USA Today/Suffolk University found that Harris had a 16-point gap in the support that she saw from men and women.
“It’s the battle of the sexes, and it’s no game,” Quinnipiac pollster Tim Malloy said in a statement. “There is a glaring gap in Michigan and Wisconsin between the number of women supporting Harris and the number of men supporting Trump.” In Quinnipiac polls conducted in five of the seven key swing states throughout October, Harris had a significant lead among women, while Trump saw a comparable advantage among men in those same places. (Quinnipiac has not released October results for Nevada and Arizona.)
Young Voters Face Heightened Voting Restrictions in Key States Ahead of Presidential Election
Photo credit: (TAHIR BEY/NEXT GEN AMERICA)
Young voters, especially college students, face numerous obstacles in the upcoming election, including changes to voter ID requirements, restrictions on early voting sites at college campuses, and complex residency rules. States like North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, and Idaho have recently enacted or attempted legislation that impacts college students' voting access. These efforts occur amid heightened skepticism about election security despite minimal evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Nonpartisan organizations such as HeadCount and Young Invincibles and groups like NextGen America and Common Cause are working to combat these barriers by educating young people about voter registration and providing accurate information. Be prepared to vote on election day! Visit vote.org or your local secretary of state’s website to learn more about your state's voting laws.
Barbara Rodriguez from The 19th reports:
Young people and college students face potential challenges at the ballot box — both last-minute and as part of laws enacted after 2020 through state legislatures. Republicans are primarily leading these efforts, which come at a time when they’ve increasingly expressed skepticism in America’s elections despite little proof of widespread voter fraud. Former President Donald Trump continues to claim without proof that there could be extensive cheating in the upcoming election.
These moves could have the most impact in the battleground states that will determine the outcome of a historic presidential election.
“You have to really want to vote to overcome all of those barriers,” said Tappan Vickery, senior director of programming and strategy for HeadCount, a nonpartisan organization that leads voter registration drives that often targets young people.
Initiative 83: Empowering Independent Voters and Ensuring Majority Rule in D.C. Elections
Lisa Rice wrote an opinion piece in the Georgetowner urging Washington D.C. voters to support Initiative 83. Currently, D.C.'s 75,000 independent voters, many of whom hold government jobs requiring political neutrality, are barred from voting in primary elections, which they help fund through taxes.
Our research has shown that ranked choice voting helps women and people of color run and win. If ranked choice voting is adopted in D.C., we could see more women and minorities running for elected office. Vote Yes on 83 for fair and inclusive elections in D.C.
More than 75,000 people (1 in 6 D.C. voters) are registered independents, including veterans, civil servants, jurists and journalists who do so because of their jobs. Independents like us can’t vote in our taxpayer-funded primary elections because we’re not registered with a political party. That’s not right — every voter should be able to vote in elections that our taxes pay for.
Additionally, our primary elections often see candidates win with well under 50 percent of the vote. That happened just this year in the Ward 7 Democratic Council nomination race, where 10 candidates ran, and just under 24 percent of voters cast their ballots for the winner. That means more than 76 percent of voters in my home ward voted for someone other than the winning candidate. How does that make sense as the way to choose our elected officials?
Arson Attacks on Ballot Drop Boxes in Pacific Northwest Raises Concern About Political Violence
Photo Credit: KGW8 via AP
In the Pacific Northwest, suspected arson attacks damaged two ballot drop boxes just before Election Day. After the box's fire suppression system failed, a fire destroyed hundreds of ballots in Vancouver, Washington. In contrast, only three ballots were damaged in Portland, Oregon, where the fire suppression system functioned properly.
These incidents were fueled by disinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding elections. Political violence of any kind is unacceptable. We must work to reduce polarization in the United States, as election security is vital for a representative democracy.
Christina A. Cassidy and Ali Swenson report in The Associated Press:
Ballot drop boxes have been in the spotlight for the last four years, targeted by right-wing conspiracy theories that falsely claimed they were responsible for massive voter fraud in 2020.
A debunked film called “2,000 Mules” amplified the claims, exposing millions to a groundless theory that a ballot harvesting operation was depositing fraudulent ballots in drop boxes in the dark of night.
An Associated Press survey of state election officials across the U.S. found no widespread problems associated with drop boxes in 2020.
Paranoia about drop boxes continued into the 2022 midterms when armed vigilantes began showing up to monitor them in Arizona and were restricted by a federal judge. This year, the conservative group True the Vote launched a website hosting citizen livestreams of drop boxes in various states.
Supreme Court Allows Virginia to Continue Voter Purge Program, Affecting Eligible Citizens
Credit: RepresentWomen
1600 Virginia voters have had their voter registration purged following an executive order from Governor Glenn Youngkin aiming to prevent noncitizens from voting. However, the program erroneously affected U.S. citizens as well. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the governor and allowed the continuation of the voter purge just days before the election.
This purge is another manifestation of the prevalence of election disinformation. Our democracy thrives only when people can fully participate, and purges like these create barriers to a truly representative democracy.
If you are a Virginia voter, double-check your voter registration here. If your registration is inactive, you can re-register at your local polling place and cast a provisional ballot.
Nina Totenberg and Ilana Dutton from NPR News report:
In early October, the Justice Department and advocacy groups sued, contending that the state had, in fact, purged at least some eligible voters and that it did so in violation of a federal law that bars systematic removals from voting rolls in the 90 days prior to an election. Specifically, the 1993 National Voter Registration Act creates a “quiet period” within 90 days of a federal election. During those 90 days, states are prohibited from “systematic[ally]” removing “ineligible voters” from the rolls because of the increased possibility of errors.
The challengers alleged that Virginia's voter purge did exactly what the federal law was aimed at preventing; it removed eligible voters who, as a result of the state's action, did not know they were no longer eligible to vote.
A federal district court agreed, ordering Virginia to restore the approximately 1,600 voter registrations that were cancelled. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that order. Virginia then appealed to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to allow the state to strike the voters purged in the 90 days prior to the election.
The state contended that the lower courts “misinterpreted the NVRA.” They argued that the “quiet period” cannot apply to noncitizens since they are already ineligible to vote. Even if the “quiet period” did apply here, the state argued, the program was sufficiently individualized, not systematic.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court sided with Virginia, leaving the purged voters off the rolls and allowing the purge to continue.
The Growing Threat of Gender-based Misinformation in Kenya
In 2010, the Kenyan constitution established gender quotas requiring that no more than two-thirds of members in all elective and appointive positions be of one gender. While this change had a modest positive effect on the number of women in Kenyan politics, significant challenges remain in achieving near-gender parity. Women seeking office in Kenya often face attacks on social media, where gender-based misinformation is spread, perpetuating harmful stereotypes that portray women as unfit for leadership and exposing their personal family details.
Florence Chepkorir writes in Missing Perspectives:
These types of disinformation have a detrimental impact on a woman’s social and political life, with at least 75% of Kenyan news consumers finding it hard to distinguish between real and fake news online. In most cases, the victim might not be able to convince the public that the information is false.
To deal with this, Rose Mutai, a two-term Member of the County Assembly in Nakuru, says that a woman with ambitions of joining politics needs to be focused. They also need a positive support system around them, especially from friends and close family members who are ready for the possibility of targeted disinformation and can provide a shoulder to lean on. This helps to navigate those instances when it happens and helps to clear the horrid memories of negative propaganda.
With fellow advocates in October 2014 at the founding meeting of what was Representation2020 and now is RepresentWomen!
Ten years ago I convened a terrific group of advocates at the Arca Foundation in Washington, DC to talk about systems strategies to advance women's representation. The Weekend Reading on Women's Representation blog was conceived of at that meeting as a tool to amplify the work that was being done to elect more women to office. The blog pre-dated the organization and I have been writing it, almost every week, since 2014. It’s now also published weekly on the Ms Magazine platform. Many thanks to those of you who were there at that first gathering and to everyone who has joined this community of readers since!
There have been a lot of powerful words spoken by women candidates and leaders over the last few weeks but the call to men, from former First Lady Michelle Obama, to “take women’s lives seriously” feels to me to be the fundamental message of this campaign cycle and the motivation for the work we do to build a more reflective democracy.
The sun sets behind the Lincoln Memorial – this week in Washington, DC as I waited in line to hear a certain candidate speak!
Many thanks,
Cynthia Richie Terrell
Founder and Executive Director, RepresentWomen
https://www.representwomen.org/
P.S.
Last week, we held a 21st Century Seneca Falls Virtual Town Hall with over 60 attendees! This event was full of elected officials, community leaders, organizations, and advocates committed to building women’s political power nationwide! Get inspired and watch our full conversation here.
