Voting Methods Library of Resources

What You Will Find in Our Library

1. A Basic Introduction & Key Terminology (including LWV Positions and Online Tools)
2. Single-Winner Voting Methods
3. Multi-Winner Voting Methods
4. Intersection of Single- and Multi-Winner Voting Methods
5. Adopting and Implementing Better Voting Methods
6. Websites of Advocates for Better Voting Methods
7. Team Expertise in Related Election Areas
8. Photos of Team Activities 

A Basic Introduction & Key Terminology

Single-Winner Voting Methods

• Can a different voting method better reflect the will of the people? (YouTube) (25 min)
  
• Better Single-Winner Voting Methods (tri-fold pamphlet)
• 2022 LWVUS Convention Caucus on Approval and STAR Voting
• 4 candidate sample ballots (PDF)
  
• 3 candidate sample ballots (PDF)
  
• Problems with Plurality Voting (2ft x 3ft poster)
  
• Voter Strategy in Instant-Runoff Voting and Approval Voting (article)
  

Archives for Single-Winner Voting Methods 

• Advocating for better ways to choose our elected officials (slides) - about proposed LWVUS position, from 2019 LWVCO Convention Caucus
  
• Better single-winner voting methods (slides) - 2018 LWVUS Convention Caucus
  
• Voting Methods 101 (YouTube) (26 min), Voting Methods 101 (slides)
• Ranked Choice Voting (YouTube) (1 hr 23 min) - 2017 Guest speaker Rob Richie, FairVote CEO
  
• Evaluation of Voting Methods: Theory and Practice (23 min) - Guest speaker Clay Shentrup, CO League Day 2015
  

Multi-Winner Voting Methods

• Proportional Representation: Why It Matters and How Voting Methods Can Get Us There (YouTube) (35 min)
  
• Better Multi-Winner Voting Methods (trifold pamphlet)
• Multi-Winner Elections: Working Toward Proportional Representation (slides)
• Proportional Representation: What it is and why it matters (video) (30 min), Proportional Representation (slides)

 Reporting Multi-Winner Plurality Results

• Another look at Council Elections in Boulder County
• A Better Way to Report Election Results (Boulder Beat Article)
• The Way Most Places Report Election Results is Pretty Misleading (KGNU interview) (9 min)
  

Specific Multi-Winner Proportional Voting Methods 

• Cambridge’s Single Transferable Vote (slides) (aka Proportional Ranked-Choice Voting)
  

• Boulder's 1917-1947 Hare [aka STV or Proportional RCV] System
  • "For elections of officials, the Hare system of preferential voting is prescribed.  This system insures a real representation of like-thinking groups of voters, instead of the present fictitious representation based on wards or other arbitrary geographical districts.  It minimizes also the well known evils of parties and of excessive campaign funds." -- from Prefatory Synopsis, Charter of the City of Boulder, CO
    
  • The Long, Unhappy Life of the Hare System in Boulder (PDF) by CU Professor William Winter [Collected papers of Leon Weaver, in the possession of Jack Santucci]
• Multi-Winner Approval Voting (slides), Multi-Winner Approval Voting Ballots and Worksheet, Proportional Approval Voting Worksheet
  

Archives for Multi-Winner Voting Methods 

• What Is a Proportional Voting Method? (YouTube) (1 hr 10 min) - Guest speaker Aaron Hamlin, Center for Election Science Executive Director, What Is a Proportional Voting Method (slides)
  

Intersection of Single- and Multi-Winner Voting Methods

• Voting Methods and Diverse Representation (slides)
• The Will of the People: How we vote and why it matters (YouTube) (1 hr 8 min), The Will of the People (slides)
  
• Same Ballot, Different Tabulation Methods (PDF)
  
• Evaluating Voting Methods: 5 Colorado Examples (PDF)

Adopting and Implementing Better Voting Methods

State of Colorado 

• Voters rejected Prop. 131 (Final-4 Voting) in 2024.  See why LWVCO supported Prop 131.
• House Bill 21-1071: Ranked Choice Voting in Nonpartisan Elections (external site) - Signed into law. Provides for Secretary of State and County Clerk support of single-county municipal Instant-Runoff (Ranked) Voting elections beginning in April 2023 and establishment of rules for risk-limiting audits of such elections by January 1, 2025
• Colorado Secretary of State Alternative Voting Method Stakeholder Group Meeting Dec 2020 (video) (1 hr 18 min), Alternative Voting Stakeholder Group (slides)
• Colorado Election Rules (external site) - See Rule 26. Ranked Voting Method. Colorado has unfriendly rules about interpreting voter intent (Rule 26.8) compared to other jurisdictions.
  

Municipalities in Colorado

• LWVBC guest opinion in the Daily Camera regarding reporting of election results in Boulder's November 2023 instant-runoff voting mayoral contest
• Boulder City/County Clerks & LWV on ranked voting and other 2023 election changes (slides) (video)
  
• 2021 Broomfield Ballot Question 2A FAQ (PDF)
• Improving Boulder City Governance through Better Elections: 4 Perspectives (YouTube) (1.5 hours), Improving Boulder City Governance (slides)
• Denver Charter Review Committee (external site) - Considered different electoral reforms for the 2021 ballot
• RCV For Fort Collins
  

Other Notable States and Municipalities  

• The "Correct" Winner is Squeezed Out in the Alaska Special Election - Why Boulder and Broomfield Should Care, Oct. 2022
  
• New York City's Mayoral Race Put IRV in the Headlines (article) - An analysis in anticipation of Boulder's 2023 election
• 2020 Voters Adopt Approval Voting and Three Forms of Ranked Voting (PDF) - From St Louis to Alaska to Albany, CA, to Boulder
• Empowering St Louis with Better Elections - Center for Election Science 70-minute online panel discussion, Sept 2020

United States 

• Fair Representation Act (external site) and 6-minute video explanation - Eliminate congressional gerrymandering through Proportional Ranked-Choice Voting and multi-member districts. Elect US Senators using Instant-Runoff Voting. Representative Joe Neguse is a co-sponsor.
  

Websites of Advocates for Better Voting Methods

Approval Voting 

• Center for Election Science
• Rocky Mountain Approves
• Approval.vote - reports on U.S. Approval Voting elections
• 2020 Fargo 30-second video

Score or Range Voting 

• The Center for Range Voting
  

STAR (Score Then Automatic Runoff) Voting

• STAR Voting
• STAR Voting presentation by Sass, hosted by CO Forward Party
• Equal Vote Coalition
  

Balanced Ballot

• Balanced Ballot Alliance
  

Ranked-Choice Voting  

• FairVote
• FairVoteAction
• RCV for Colorado
• The Institute for Political Innovation - Advocates for Final-Five Voting
  
• What Is RCV Anyway? (article) - LWVBC article with links to short videos

• Lessons from 3 Instant-Runoff Voting Elections (slides) - LWVBC presentation

Condorcet Voting (The Original Ranked Voting Method)

• Ranked Robin - an example of a Condorcet Voting method
  

Proportional Representation

• Fix Our House
• Californians For Electoral Reform
• Fair Vote Canada
• Equal Vote Coalition
• MGGG Redistricting Lab
  

Additional Resources 

• Electowiki - A resource for voting methods not listed above, such as Cumulative Voting or 3-2-1 Voting
• Democracy Policy Network - Alternative voting methods policy kit for state legislators
  
• Voting Methods We Don't Recommend (article)
• Which Voting System Should We Use? (xkcd webcomic)
• Book Review: Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop by Lee Drutman
• Book Review: The Primary Solution by Nick Troiano
  

Team Expertise in Related Election Areas

Redistricting and Gerrymandering 

• Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (external site) - Using math to generate and analyze large sets of possible maps for redistricting
• CU-Boulder Math Professor Jeanne Clelland's Work with Ensemble Analysis
  •  The court seeks a standard to measure partisan gerrymandering. Mathematicians came up with one. (Daily Camera article)
    
  • Colorado in Context (external site) - Ensemble Analysis and Data Science for Fair Redistricting in Colorado
  • Free and Equal Elections Foundation 2019 Electoral Reform Symposium (YouTube) (~1 hour, begin at 33 minutes)
    

Colorado’s Risk-Limiting Audits (RLA) 

• Secretary of State Audit Center (external site) - Includes 27-min video on Colorado's risk-limiting audit
  
• Computer Scientist Neal McBurnett's Work on Election Integrity
  • Colorado's Risk-Limiting Audits: Our Journey (slides)
  • The Colorado Risk-Limiting Audit Project and related work (external site) - Webpage by Neal McBurnett
    

Photos of Team Activities