Shifted momentum towards proportional multi-member districts through original research, organizing hundreds of top political scientists to publicly speak out, and generating new media coverage.
Shaping the Democracy of Tomorrow
Our Work
Democracy requires institutions that inspire faith — that our political system is representative and responsive, that civic participation is valuable, and that democracy can deliver for the people.
For many voters, recent elections have felt existential. They’re not wrong — the stakes are as high as they seem. This seemingly endless cycle is no accident: our electoral system is particularly vulnerable to the global authoritarian wave. Polarization and a strict two party system have empowered a small authoritarian faction to gain control of one of the two parties. As a result, every election has become an “us vs. them” battle wherein democracy itself seems to hang in the balance.
A country as large and as diverse as the United States demands a democracy that facilitates healthy competition, robust representation, and pluralism in our politics. Yet our electoral system:
– Disadvantages minority voices;
– Stifles competition;
– Limits the number of political parties;
– Escalates extremism;
– Limits voter choice; and
– Exacerbates political violence.
Stopping the authoritarian threat requires bold and ambitious long-term strategies to ensure that the Democracy of Tomorrow better reflects the will of all Americans and is oriented towards collaboratively addressing our country’s most pressing challenges.
- Replacing winner-take-all elections with a more proportional system of representation.
- Advocating for more and better political parties that responsibly promote democracy.
- Legalizing fusion voting to help break the two-party doom loop.
Advanced several provisions of the Protecting Our Democracy Act, a package of democratic guardrails reforms we helped Congressional leaders assemble, which were signed into law by President Biden.
Impact in the News
Political Violence & US Democracy Political Violence & US Democracy
Proportional representation, explained
Proportional representation is an electoral system that elects multiple representatives in each district in proportion to the number of people who vote for them.
December 5, 2023
Bringing Back Fusion Voting: Michael Tomasco & William Kibler v. NJ Division of Elections et al.
In New Jersey and other states, anti-democratic extremism and polarization are rapidly accelerating. Fusion voting is the off-ramp we need to break this cycle.
July 20, 2022
Fighting for rights restoration: CSI v. Moore
In November 2019, Protect Democracy, Forward Justice, and Arnold & Porter filed suit on behalf of six individuals and several orgs to restore voting rights for those with prior convictions in N.C.
September 21, 2021