A new Maryland-based committee, Advancing Democracy in Maryland, announced in an op-ed in Maryland Matters that it's number one priority is to adopt House Bill 344, which would allow Montgomery County, Maryland to adopt ranked-choice voting for local elections.
In announcing this priority, the committee noted that it is guided by many of the recommendations in the 2020 report, Our Common Purpose: Reinventing Democracy for the 21st Century, issued by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship.
"Ranked choice voting is one of Our Common Purpose’s 31 recommendations, and Montgomery County could be a test case for the rest of the state," write the committee's members who authored the op-ed. "In an era where many races include multiple candidates, this is a needed reform."
The article's authors note that ranked-choice voting incentivizes positive campaigning, ensures that a winning candidate has majority support, and benefits women candidates and candidates of color.
Read the full story here.