From the Green-Rainbow Party:

We all know that our legislature has a record of ignoring badly-needed reforms year after year.  Ultimately, we’ll change this by electing Green-Rainbow candidates who are not beholden to corporate special interests. But in the short term, we will work to promote worthy bills, since, occasionally, enough pressure can be mounted to pass real public interest bills (like last year’s CORI reform).

With that in mind,we’re passing along a call to action on behalf of Ranked Choice (aka Instant Runoff) Voting, an urgently needed voting reform that lets you rank your choices and vote your values without fear of  “throwing your vote away” or “spoiling” the election.  We encourage you to contact your state representative right away.  

Here’s the memo from Citizens for Voter Choice:

“In a partnership between Representative Alice Wolf, MassVOTE, and the Citizens for Voter Choice, we’ve filed a practical bill that will put Ranked Choice Voting on the map in Massachusetts by allowing cities and towns to voluntarily opt in to a Ranked Choice Voting system.

CALL YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE’S OFFICE NOW.  ASK THEM TO CO-SPONSOR HD.02026

Look up your State Representative here (click on the photo to get the phone number).

Here’s what you can say:

“Hi, my name is __________, I’m a citizen who lives in your district, at _[address]_.  I’m calling to urge the representative to co-sponsor HD.02026, the Instant Runoff Voting Local Option Bill.

I believe this practical bill will improve democracy by allowing cities and towns to opt into a voting system that is a great improvement over our current system.

Instant Runoff Voting (Ranked Choice Voting) will allow me to truly vote my values by ranking the candidates in my order of preference, and it will provide true majority winners and more competitive elections by solving the problems of vote splitting and spoiler candidates.

Will you co-sponsor HD.02026?  Thank you for considering.”

We have 2 more days to get co-sponsors for the Local Option Bill. Deadline: FEBRUARY 4.

We did it in Maine, and now is our chance to do it in Massachusetts. But we can’t do it without your help.  If you want to empower voters, reduce the power of incumbents, and eliminate vote splitting for good in Massachusetts, then call your state representative now.  Urge him or her to sign on as a co-sponsorr to HD.02026 – The Instant Runoff Voting Local Option Bill.

In case you’re curious, here is the working draft of the bill text.

 

[End Voter Choice memo]

Thanks much for your support for this critical legislation!