Friends,
With 2024 almost in the history books, we wanted to take a quick moment to reflect upon the tremendous progress we made together. In 2024, over 8 million Americans voted for election reforms. Alaska voters decided to keep their innovative and highly representative election system which gives all Alaska voters more choices and more power to hold their elected leaders accountable at the ballot box. Additionally, Washington D.C. voted overwhelmingly (73%) to allow independent voters to vote in primaries and to use ranked-choice voting in both the primary and general elections.
You are a big part of building the new political reform movement. Thanks to you, 2025 is going to be an even bigger and better year for real, structural change and common sense solutions to our challenged political system.
Oh, and if you’re shopping for holiday gifts for people who love America and love the fight for reforms to bring power back to the people, consider gifting them something from our merch store! We have lots of swag, hoodies, and accessories for the whole family, and all proceeds go to powering our mission.
Happy holidays,
Todd, Eric & the team at Veterans for All Voters
In a major victory for elections that put voters first, Alaska voters have rejected Measure 2, which sought to repeal Alaska's first-in-the-nation top-four elections. With all the votes counted in a final unofficial tally, “NO” currently leads “YES” 50.1% to 49.9%. Because the result is within 0.5%, a recount is underway.
Top-four elections continue to demonstrate positive impact. “The Last Frontier continues to be a shining example for the entire country of what a fairer and more representative election system can look like.
Anthony Stobbe, an Edmond resident and 20-year U.S. Coast Guard Veteran, was one of the three proponents who filed the petition Monday.
He is one of 480,000 independents in Oklahoma. Stobbe said more than half of military members have no party affiliation, which means the population that has or is currently serving the country doesn’t get to vote in the election that matters in Oklahoma.
“Frankly, it seems highly undemocratic, not very American, and it really doesn’t make any sense,” Stobbe said.
Tony Haas, VAV’s volunteer engagement director, joined We The Veterans and Military Families co-founder and executive director Ellen Gustafson, to speak at UVA's Veterans Day Batten Hour.
Tony spoke about reducing political polarization through election reforms like ranked-choice voting and open primaries. The discussion emphasized the need for systemic change to better align political incentives with voter priorities and discussed the barriers to reform, including resistance from major parties. The event was coordinated by VAV volunteer Andrew Chand, who is a current UVA student.
A Special Veterans Day Event Focuses on Improving the U.S. Elections System
For a special Veteran’s Day Batten Hour on Monday, the UVA Batten School hosted two veterans groups whose mission is to lessen political polarization.
VAV’s Hamp Lee III and Tony Haas joined a multigenerational panel of veteran guest speakers for the third annual “Veterans Speak” event hosted by the Bay College Civics Corps in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Hamp and Tony, along with a broad group of panelists representing service in every major conflict since World War II, shared their personal experiences with the Bay College students and what military service during times of both peace and war has meant to them.
NANR Election Debrief Summit
VAV shows up BIG at NANR
Earlier this month, the entire Veterans for All Voters campaign team was in San Diego for a national election debrief summit. At the summit, our leaders took part in a thorough and engaging live After Action debrief session. We took stock in how we can grow into a stronger and more sophisticated organization in support of the state campaigns around the country who are leading this citizen movement.
National Conference on Citizenship: Renewing Civic Health & No Labels: Power to the Middle Summit
Articles to read
An election recount confirmed on Monday the narrow defeat of a ballot measure to repeal ranked choice voting and open primaries in Alaska. The statewide recount showed that out of almost 341,000 ballots cast at the Nov. 5 election, the repeal measure failed by 743 votes — a bigger margin than the Alaska Division of Elections certified on Nov. 30
In the few cases where it has been implemented, ranked-choice voting (also known as instant runoffs) appears to generate more civil campaigns, less polarized rhetoric, more moderate candidates, and election winners more willing to work with opposing parties
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