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Webinar rewind: How to make voting healthier and easier this fall

There is still time to create reliable, versatile and healthy election systems nationwide during the coronavirus pandemic — but that will mean getting aid to local administrators quickly and dousing the partisan fire over the virtues and risks of expanded absentee balloting.

That was one of several important takeaways from our rapid-fire and information-rich April 22 webinar with Amber McReynolds, CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, and elections expert Tammy Patrick of the Democracy Fund.


Training new poll workers, disinfecting voting sites, and easing absentee rules, registration requirements and early in-person voting timetables are also part of the solution to generating turnout during the public health crisis, they said, and both strongly rebutted the notion that easier voting would incubate fraud.

You can watch their presentations, and all the smart questions and answers above.

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"Vote Here" sign
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The path forward for electoral reform

The National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers hosted its post-election gathering Dec. 2-4 in San Diego. More than 120 leaders from across the country convened to reflect on the November elections, where reform campaigns achieved mixed results with multiple state losses, and to chart a path forward for nonpartisan electoral reforms. As the Bridge Alliance Education Fund is a founding member of NANR and I currently serve on the board, I attended the gathering in hopes of getting some insight on how we can best serve the collective needs of the electoral reform community in the coming year.

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Peopel waiting in line near a sign that reads "Vote Here: Polling Place"

People wait to vote in the 2024 election at city hall in Anchorage, Alaska.

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How Alaska is making government work again

At the end of a bitter and closely divided election season, there’s a genuine bright spot for democracy from our 49th state: Alaskans decided to keep the state’s system of open primaries and ranked choice voting because it is working.

This is good news not only for Alaska, but for all of us ready for a government that works together to get things done for voters.

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How to reform the political system to fight polarization and extremism

On Dec. 19, at 6 p.m., Elections Reform Now will present a webinar on “How to Reform the Political System to Combat Polarization and Extremism.”

In 2021, a group of the leading academics in the United States formed a task force to study the polarization of the American electorate and arrive at solutions to the dysfunction of our electoral system. They have now written a book, "Electoral Reform in the United States: Proposals for Combating Polarization and Extremism," published just this month.

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a hand holding a red button that says i vote
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Yes, elections have consequences – primary elections to be specific

Can you imagine a Republican winning in an electoral district in which Democrats make up 41 percent of the registered electorate? Seems farfetched in much of the country. As farfetched as a Democrat winning in a R+10 district.

It might be in most places in the U.S. – but not in California.

Republican Rep. David Valadao won re-election in California's 22nd congressional district, where registered Republicans make up just shy of 28 percent of the voting population. But how did he do it?

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