The 2026 elections are underway. This November, 10 cities, two counties, and two states will use ranked choice voting.

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Ranked choice voting makes our elections better by allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference.

Hispanic Heritage Month offers an opportunity to discuss reforms that can lead to better representation for Hispanic and Latino voters.

The Supreme Court’s Callais decision raised questions about how Black communities can protect representation and build political power.

From South Carolina Republicans voting four times in 11 weeks, to 68,000 “zombie votes” in Wisconsin, the primaries put a spotlight on the need for ranked choice voting.

The Fair Representation Act is the bold solution that solves the problems of gerrymandering and uncompetitive elections for U.S. House.

See the latest news and analysis from FairVote about American democracy and the movement for better elections.

Proportional representation (PR) is the principle that says if a party gets 30% of the vote, they should get 30% of the seats.

YouTube video by RTÉ KIDS

The Supreme Court’s Callais decision raised questions about how Black communities can protect representation and build political power.

From South Carolina Republicans voting four times in 11 weeks, to 68,000 “zombie votes” in Wisconsin, the primaries put a spotlight on the need for ranked choice voting.

YouTube video by FairVote

Ranked choice voting makes our elections better by allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference.

What if elections, which are a cornerstone of democracy, don't produce the outcomes that we desire? Terry Bouricius spent twenty years as an elected lawmaker in Vermont - city council, then the statehouse - followed by a decade at FairVote trying to fix elections with better elections. Then he quit. Since 2005 he has been the leading American theorist of sortition: choosing the people who govern by lottery, the way we choose juries — a practice rooted in Athenian democracy. This is a conversation about an idea most Americans have never encountered, and about why it keeps working wherever it is tried. Ireland used randomly selected conventions to settle same-sex marriage and abortion. Melbourne handed a stuck capital budget to 43 taxpayers chosen by lot. Connecticut is running the first statewide citizens' assembly in the United States right now. And the argument underneath it all is disarmingly simple: you can't lobby a jury. No donors, no primary, no next race, no way to know six months out whose ear to buy. Recorded before the 2026 midterms. We close on elections themselves - and Bouricius, an election-reform veteran who says the machinery is sound, names the thing that actually frightens him. Guest: Terry Bouricius - former Vermont legislator, ten years at FairVote, originator of the multi-body sortition model, co-founder of Democracy R&D. His book "Democracy Without Politicians: Government By the People" (Routledge, 2026) is open access - the full text is free. https://democracywithoutpoliticians.org https://terrybouricius.com https://democracycreative.substack.com https://sortitionusa.org https://democracyrd.org Chapters: 0:00 Cold open: what if jurors were elected? 0:46 Intro 2:23 Twenty years in office, and why he left 5:40 What sortition actually is 5:53 Athens: a democracy because of the lottery, not the assembly 7:59 British Columbia, 2004: "This is what democracy looks like" 11:10 The 200-year project and the peeling strategy 14:19 Why left and right both nod along 15:43 You can't lobby a jury 17:25 More likely to die in office than lose an election 17:37 Plato's ship vs. the wisdom of crowds 18:21 A thousand assemblies, and Macron's climate convention 19:57 Connecticut: the first statewide assembly in the US 20:43 Aristotle: the lot is democratic, election is oligarchic 22:10 What Madison and the founders actually feared 26:09 "How many of us are renters?" 28:35 Cognitive diversity: why the room beats the experts 33:27 Designing against bribery and capture 35:09 Binding or advisory? Melbourne's budget 37:58 Ireland: marriage and abortion, decided by lot 40:00 The abuse survivor and the gay juror 44:47 Tribal loyalty: Obamacare, tariffs, switching sides 50:22 Groupthink, facilitators, and multi-body sortition 52:35 Agenda-setting: the wall, the bridges, the climate 55:33 AI: the bubble, and who gets to decide 58:29 Could AI agents replace a citizens' assembly? 62:09 What to do Monday: Sortition USA 63:10 The book is free 67:02 Are the midterms secure? 67:54 The refusal to seat: "a real possibility within two months" 69:59 Outro and links Dave Troy Presents is published by America 2.0. https://america2.news