Shawn Griffiths
Photo by Ahmed on Unsplash.
The work to make elections better for voters never stops and no one knows that better than the organizations that put a historic number of systemic reforms on the 2024 ballot. And now, these leaders will gather in San Diego to plan for the future of this massive movement.
The National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers (NANR) will host its 8th annual summit on December 2-4 at the Mission Bay Hotel in San Diego, California. It’s an invitation-only event that will feature 100 academics, funders, and pioneers in electoral reform.
The purpose: To debrief the 2024 election and plan for the future.
“More than 7 million Americans cast a ballot in favor of reform this year, which is enormous,” said NANR Executive Director Andy Moore. “We are looking forward to getting together and sharing insights on what worked, what can be improved, and where future opportunities exist.”
NANR is a coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated to structural electoral reform that prioritizes the public interest. Its members may focus on different proposals, from primary reform to voting methods to gerrymandering, but they are united by a shared goal:
Creating an electoral system that incentivizes robust competition among many political parties and independent candidates, as well as a level playing field for all voters and candidates that would allow for such a system.
And these groups know that there isn’t a single solution or silver bullet to solve the myriads of problems that exist in US elections and prevent meaningful change from flourishing.
“We are a place where leaders and thinkers in the reform movement can come together to get better at what we do,” Moore said. “There is not another venue that is dedicated to practitioners of electoral reform to come together in this way."
In some ways, the 2024 cycle bucked tremendous pro-reform momentum over the last decade. There were 6 statewide initiatives to end party primaries, 4 to implement ranked choice voting, and 1 to end partisan gerrymandering in Ohio. They all failed to pass.
However, there were also successes to celebrate.
“We had huge wins in DC and a number of other cities around the country,” Moore said. “This election was a bit unique. The number of reform initiatives on the ballot was record-breaking.”
Despite the failed statewide initiatives, voting reform was victorious in 5 cities, including the nation’s capital. There was also significant campaign finance reform in Maine, led by reform veterans Kyle Bailey and Cara Brown McCormick.
“The reform movement is already making plans for what comes next,” Moore explained. “This is our chance to gather and talk about the factors that were at play in each state and what we can learn from what voters are telling us.”
The NANR summit will kick off on December 2 with a welcome reception hosted by Veterans for All Voters, followed by two days of presentations and strategy workshops. NANR will also present its annual awards for top campaigns and lifetime achievements to the cause.
Moore specifically noted that one of the awards will be for hard work and success in the 2024 election cycle.