Coalition Building and Ranked Choice Voting: Why Are They More Democratic? A Transatlantic Conversation
Monday, October 19, 2020
12-1:30 pm Eastern Time (US) / 6-7:30 pm German time
Zoom Webinar
You can watch a recording of the complete event by clicking the button above.
About the Event
This November, Massachusetts voters will vote on "Yes on 2" to support "Ranked Choice Voting." In this webinar we explain what ranked-choice voting is, but we also take a look across the Atlantic to see how voting rules impact political culture and democracy in the Federal Republic of Germany, which has had a system of (mixed) proportional representation since WWII.
Today, Germany has six parties represented in the federal parliament. The country’s 16 federal states are governed in a colorful variety of coalitions. Ranked-choice voting, though perhaps a bit more complex than the current first-past-the-post system, is far less complicated than proportional representation. What both have in common is how voters’ choices get represented in parliaments and governments.
About the Speakers
Jim Henderson serves as the Treasurer and General Counsel of the "Yes on 2" campaign. Jim is a long-time advocate of ranked-choice voting, a topic he focused on while a candidate for Secretary of State in 2010. Jim is one of the principal drafters of Question 2, and was part of the team that secured the campaign's right to collect electronic signatures in spring 2020, a first of its kind in the nation. With degrees from Princeton University, University of Michigan, and Boston University, Jim maintains a law practice in Stow, representing small businesses and nonprofit organizations as outside general counsel, and providing estate planning services to families and individuals. Jim also sings and performs regularly with In Good Company and in the Christmas Revels.
Arne Jungjohann is a crossover between science and politics. His fields of expertise are climate, energy and mobility; democracy, federalism and coalition governments. Arne is a political scientist and a member of the Green Academy of the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation. Previously, he worked for Minister President Winfried Kretschmann in the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, at the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation in Washington DC, and in the Deutscher Bundestag. He has a son, loves to ride his bike and spends too much time on Twitter. You can find more information about Arne Jungjohann on his website.
Read current articles by Arne Jungjohan online: A federal climate force: How the German Greens shaped the climate package through the Länder and Ministerial diversity meets green core competencies: Green co-governance in the federal states.