Proposed Reforms and Policy Debates

Election reform proposals are ideas for changing how Americans vote and how votes turn into results. They include different ways of counting ballots, changes to the Electoral College, alternatives to winner-take-all contests, and shifts in how much power states and the federal government hold over elections. Legislators, advocacy groups, courts, and voters argue over them, and supporters and critics of each idea make their cases.

People usually ask how ranked-choice voting and proportional systems work, how they compare with the familiar plurality approach, what the Constitution allows, and who would have to act to make a change.