How to Create a Better Election System in America #63

Podcast
Written by Nick Halaris

Hi Everyone and Welcome Back!

This week on The Nick Halaris Show we are featuring Deb Otis, the Director of Research and Policy at FairVote, a nonpartisan organization seeking better elections in America through two key reforms: 1. Ranked choice voting and 2. Proportional representation in Congress.  Deb is a passionate and experienced civic activist and an expert on comparative electoral systems.

Ready to dive in? Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform.

I wanted to have Deb on the show to learn more about FairVote’s two big ideas for reforming American elections and understand why she and her colleagues think they are so crucial for our democracy.  Whether it’s extreme voter dissatisfaction with Congress, low voter turnout in local elections, gerrymandered partisan primaries, or debates about the efficacy of the Electoral College and mail-in voting, there’s no shortage of concern about our democratic processes these days.  Fortunately, reformers like Deb and previous Nick Halaris Show guest Nick Troiano of Unite America, are stepping forward with practical reforms designed to make our elections more adequately reflect the actual will of the people.

Tune in to this important episode to learn:  

  • How ranked choice voting works and why it might be a better option

  • What proportional representation is and how it could improve Congressional function by changing the incentive structures of politics

  • Why we should also pursue both primary reform and campaign finance reform are necessary

  • Ideas for improving voter engagement

    &

  • Much, much more

Stay tuned to the end to learn how an early interest in politics and experiences working on the ground in campaigns inspired Deb to commit her life to protecting and improving our democracy.

As always, I hope you all enjoy this episode.  Thanks for tuning in!      

PS. I’ve been really enjoying reading Nice News lately. I love opening my Inbox everyday to stories of all the good things happening in our world for a change. Highly recommend!

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Summary

Deb Otis, the director of policy and research at FairVote, discusses election reform and the work of FairVote. FairVote focuses on ranked choice voting and proportional representation as key reform priorities. The current setup of American elections and the mechanics of the election process have several problems, including voter frustration, electing candidates without majority support, gerrymandering, and negative campaign tone. FairVote believes that structural changes are needed to address these issues. Otis explains how ranked choice voting works, its benefits in eliminating strategic voting and spoilers, and its potential impact on presidential elections. She also discusses proportional representation and its potential for fair representation and multi-party democracy. Otis emphasizes the need for a combination of reforms, including campaign finance reform and primary reform, to improve elections and engage more voters. She also addresses the Electoral College and the challenges of voter disengagement. 

Keywords

FairVote, election reform, ranked choice voting, proportional representation, American democracy, election mechanics, voter frustration, gerrymandering, negative campaign tone, structural issues, primary reform, campaign finance reform, Electoral College, voter disengagement

Takeaways

  • FairVote focuses on ranked choice voting and proportional representation as key reform priorities in American elections.

  • The current setup of American elections has several problems, including voter frustration, electing candidates without majority support, gerrymandering, and negative campaign tone.

  • Structural changes, such as ranked choice voting and proportional representation, are needed to address these issues and improve elections.

  • Combining reforms like campaign finance reform and primary reform can further enhance the impact of election reform.

  • Engaging disengaged voters and addressing voter disengagement are important for a more inclusive and representative democracy.

Titles

  • FairVote: Reforming American Elections

  • Combining Reforms: Campaign Finance and Primary Reform

Sound Bites

  • "We often elect candidates without majority support."

  • "Elections should matter. Voters should be able to have the say rather than being drawn into these safe districts where the outcome is a foregone conclusion."

  • "Ranked choice voting frees us from strategic voting."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to FairVote

09:11 Ranked Choice Voting: Eliminating Strategic Voting and Spoilers

16:30 Proportional Representation: Towards Fair and Multi-Party Democracy

23:47 Automatic Voter Registration and Addressing Voter Disengagement

30:26 Campaign Finance and Primary Reform

34:55 The Electoral College and National Popular Vote

39:22 Addressing Odd Year Elections and Engaging Voters

 

Nick Halaris

I’ve been fascinated by investing for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I would read the Wall Street Journal, the Economist and Barron’s, pouring over the data tables, stories and interviews with a passion and an insatiable kind of curiosity. As I grew into adulthood, I struggled to find the right outlet and channel for this passion and spent much of my twenties wandering and trying out different things. I had a very brief career as an attorney, spent some time as a strategy and leadership consultant for big multinational companies, failed in an attempt to start a hedge fund, and even ended up helping run a scrap metal recycling operation for a while.

At the age of 30 though, I took my stand. I made up my mind that no matter what I was going to be an entrepreneurial investor. As crazy as it sounds, I owe everything in my life to this one foundational decision—even my amazing wife and my beautiful kids. I don’t think I would ever have met Alicia had I not made this one choice. At that moment in time, the financial world had just been devastated by the crash in the housing market and the near systemic failure of the global banking system that followed. I’ve always had a contrarian bent to my investment thinking; so, to me the carnage in real estate looked like an opportunity.

It all started with one house in Compton California. The business plan was simple: buy a distressed foreclosed home from a bank, bring it back to life with a big renovation and sell it to a first-time homebuyer. Things progressed slowly as they tend to do with real estate. In the first years of this, I think I did 6-7 homes. But then after plugging away day-by-day, suddenly it seemed, things just came together. I found the right investors and the right loans and the right deals and in just a few short years I ended up investing in over 100 such transactions, building a portfolio of almost 2,500 multifamily units and creating a fully vertically integrated real estate company with almost 100 employees.

Fast forward to today and I’m running the second evolution of my entrepreneurial investing career and having so much fun that I have to stop and remind myself that this is all real.

http://www.nickhalaris.com
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