Can Competition Foster Better Government? Reform Strategist Katherine Gehl on 2024 Ballots & Beyond

The Purple Principle

Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry and Founder of The Institute for Political Innovation, has always asked herself what she needed “to do in order to change the political situation.”

“So at first I needed to sell my business,” Katherine tells us. “Then I needed to make the intellectual case.. And then I needed to try to sell this reform to people. It just went like that.”

Today, in 2024, after many years of effort and adaptation, Katherine Gehl’s Final Four or Final Five voting initiatives are now poised to be on the ballot in another four states (Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Colorado) having passed in Alaska back in 2020, which then held the first such election in 2022.

Katherine recounts that in the time she’s been working on these reforms, “going all the way back to 2013, but really trying to raise money actively since 2015, the reception has changed dramatically.”

In this episode, which launches our extended series on 2024 election reform initiatives, we’ll learn how non-partisan, competition-based election reform has gained traction among donors, reformers and voters alike. We’ll also get a better understanding of how her institute and action fund “catalyze” grassroots leaders in reform-minded states, such the former Idaho Attorney General Jim Jones and Reclam Idaho founder Luke Mayhew.

“The combination of someone like Luke with Jim Jones is a bit of a dream that you could put that together,” Katherine recounts, while also detailing emerging efforts in Colorado and Montana and the second ballot initiative in Nevada this cycle as required by the state constitution.

Will this be the year Final Five Voting moves onto the national stage and transforms the incentives of elected officials in these pathbreaking states?

Tune in to learn more from Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry (with Harvard Business School Professor, Michael Porter) and a central catalyst in the nation’s growing non-partisan election reform movement.

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production. Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.

SHOW NOTES

Our Guest:

Katherine Gehl, Reform Strategist & Founder, The Institute for Political Innovation (IPI)

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Resources:

Institute for Political Innovation

https://hbr.org/2020/07/fixing-u-s-politics

https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_election_results,_2022

https://www.uniteamericainstitute.org/research/alaskas-election-model-how-the-top-four-nonpartisan-primary-system-improves-participation-competition-and-representation

https://store.hbr.org/product/the-politics-industry-how-political-innovation-can-break-partisan-gridlock-and-save-our-democracy/10367

https://www.veteransforallvoters.org/

https://ballotpedia.org/Nevada_Question_3,_Top-Five_Ranked-Choice_Voting_Initiative_(2022)

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/after-restructuring-is-nevada-ranked-choice-ballot-measure-ready-for-election

https://vote.nyc/page/ranked-choice-voting

https://www.rcvmontana.org/petition

https://rcvforcolorado.org/

https://idahocapitalsun.com/author/jim-jones/

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/05/01/having-exceeded-goal-idaho-open-primary-supporters-submit-final-signatures-for-verification/

https://www.reclaimidaho.org/

https://www.reclaimidaho.org/medicaid

https://kentthiry.com/about/

https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/rankedchoicefaq.html

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/03/11/proposed-constitutional-amendment-to-block-ranked-choice-voting-fails-in-idaho-house/

https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/01/wisconsin-republican-voting-senate-assembly-legislation-bill-watch/