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How do we get Multi-party Democracy?

There are          key legislative initiatives that can transform our national political scene and pave the way for successful alternative parties. Although this will not automatically fix every problem, it is a prerequisite for a return to earnest and productive political discourse.​

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The good news is that model legislation already has advocates in Congress. The Fair Representation Act has been buried by party leadership (who are reluctant to give up the power of the duopoly), but it shows that our current legislators are willing to form a coalition around meaningful electoral reform. Legislators have terrible jobs today, as foot soldiers in the culture wars, and they also want a better system.

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Furthermore, there is tremendous support for electoral reform in this country from the average American. Voters correctly feel like they are poorly represented in the current system, and a plurality of voters (especially young voters) do not affiliate with either party. The moment is ripe for change.

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Anchor 1

Policy Objective 1: Representative voting

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multi-member districts

Policy Objective 2: Option for public funding of third-party candidates

Representative voting
This is not a revolutionary idea. There are a number of ways to engineer a more representative vote, and every one of them is better than the plurality system we have at present. Whether it's ranked choice voting, approval voting, FAN voting, or other similar systems, Congress can pass legislation to give Americans a way to express their true preferences on the ballot.

Most importantly, if Americans know they're not throwing away their vote on a third party candidate, they suddenly have the freedom to say, for example, that they like the Constitutional Party candidate the most, but they'd rather have the Republican before the Democratic candidate (or, substitute Green--Democratic--Republican if you prefer). This allows consensus building around a moderate viewpoint, and creates the conditions for real multiparty democracy.

Here's an example of what Maine's ranked choice voting ballot looks like:
Screenshot 2026-02-07 135525.png
Here's a Utah organization that instead supports approval voting. They argue that approval voting is an easier transition for Americans, who are used to a single-vote plurality system. This is also a great pathway for electoral improvement.
Utah Approves
Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a system that has broad support among experts and voters alike. It has been piloted in Utah with great success (1), led largely by this local nonprofit. You can also visit the websites of these longstanding organizations in favor of RCV. This is a fantastic website that provides a ton of detail about RCV. This page is a good starting point.
UtahRCV
FairVote
Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center
Multi-member Districts
Although the name sounds complex, the idea is really straightforward: instead of have 800,000 Americans elect a single representative, we'll have 4 million Americans elect 5 representatives. On your ballot, you'll select several candidates that you prefer (see the representative voting section above). When the results are tallied, the top 5 winners will be elected.

Multi-member districts have several advantages for getting the most qualified and most supported individuals into office. Most importantly, the size of the district will be the most potent lever to decide how many parties exist in the United States: a target size of 5 representatives is a good place to start (1).

Here are some simple videos that show how one form of ranked choice voting--single transferrable vote--uses multi-member districting to create a representative election.
Simple example
Slightly complex example
Public Campaign Finance Option
Federal races are so expensive. I think that having multiple relevant parties and other sensible reform options could bring down the costs from the stratosphere where they currently reside (1). While it is transparently obvious to me that getting corporate dollars out of our elections decreases the risks of corruption for everyone, regulating monetary donations will probably require a Constitutional Amendment at this point (2).

Instead, on the pathway to having real multiparty democracy, it may be necessary to have a 100% transparent public financing option for political campaigns, in order for small voices to credibly compete for votes. Regardless of the system we choose, it would be completely elective: if you're running as a Republican or Democrat with an enormous war chest, you would choose to take that money instead of the more modest public financing option.

Here's an article from CT Insider explaining how Connecticut has implemented a matching donation system to encourage local people to run outside of the party pipeline:
How does CT's public campaign financing program work?
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