Our Story
We believe elections matter. Voters Choose is a nonpartisan, youth-led, national nonprofit working for election reform. We believe the goal of better representation — better democracy — should be shared by all, regardless of political affiliation. And we believe that changing the way we vote will change how candidates campaign, and expand the types of candidates who can get elected. We offer real, positive, electoral reform for big impact — better elections, better campaigns, and better representation.
Our movement started in May 2017 on a simple premise: we want elections to work for every American, and to put an end to an age of polarized politics. We are a team of U.S. residents from many states and many different backgrounds, but we are united on the premise that the People command both their democracy and the rules that structure it. Voters Choose wants more residents involved in our polity; our work empowers the non-voter, the disillusioned, and the young of our country to re-engage in government again, and to make the civic process represent their voice.
Our Mission
Our goal is to research the electoral landscape of every constituency we work for, find the system that best represents those voters, and use our findings to build community-based campaigns for better democracy. We want to create policy on the grassroots level, and develop advocacy that works for community organization first — then for city-level, state-level, and someday national-level impact. Voters Choose wants better voting for America because we believe that America deserves even better democracy. And we believe electoral reform is the way to get there.
Through our research, we have designed a particular system of voting, called Rank and Add, which we plan to test in each constituency alongside other types of voter reform. Rank and Add allows voters to rank their top candidates for a position, rather than just picking their favorite. Ranking candidates allows voters to express support for more than one candidate, party, set of values, or slate of issues. And by rewarding candidates who do more than just win #1 rankings from a dedicated minority — the candidates who work to earn lots of #2 and #3 rankings from a broader range of voters — the Voters Choose System generates elected officials who are more representative of their constituencies. That’s what we mean by “better democracy”.