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Re: [EM] The "Make Elections Great Again Act"

RB
robert bristow-johnson
Mon, Feb 2, 2026 2:38 PM

Kristopher, we live in a fascist state now in the U.S.  Legality don't matter no more.  It's just about power.One of the reasons we have the Electoral College was that it was understood from the very beginning that states carry out their own elections.  (And the Federal government solely carries out the decennial census, not the states.). There really are no federal-wide elections.  The presidential election in a state is solely about who the state's electors are.But civil rights legislation in the 1960s sorta started changing that, where the red got more involved in the elections in a state.  But there was a Constitutional amendment involved with that.We're so fucked.  Nothing to do except drop our pants and bend over.Powered by Cricket Wireless------ Original message------From: Kristofer Munsterhjelm via Election-MethodsDate: Mon, Feb 2, 2026 07:22To: Rob Lanphier;election-methods@lists.electorama.com;Cc: Subject:Re: [EM] The "Make Elections Great Again Act"On 2026-02-02 03:3
9, Rob Lanphier via Election-Methods wrote:

Hi folks

In case you hadn't heard, the move to ban RCV (and all electoral reform)
has gone federal in the United States:
https://legiscan.com/US/text/HB7300/id/3343097

Here's the press release:
https://cha.house.gov/press-releases?id=460DC098-9C01-4F60-8BA5-E795D1501893

Here's some mainstream reporting about it:
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5712698-house-republicans-election-reform-bill/

...and here's a post I made to reddit about it earlier today:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1qt80c8/proposed_ban_on_rcv_at_the_federal_level/

To quote the press release, this will:

  • Require photo identification to vote
  • Require states to verify citizenship of individuals when registering
    to vote
  • Implement stronger routine voter list maintenance requirements in states
  • Require mail-in ballots to be received by the close of polls on
    election day
  • Require states to use auditable paper ballots
  • Ban ballot harvesting
  • Ban ranked choice voting
  • Ban universal vote by mail

If you were thinking "/great!//  they're banning //RCV/IRV/", bear in
mind that the actual bill contains this:

/"A State may not carry out a general election for Federal office in

the State using a voting system that— (1) permits a voter to vote for
more than one candidate for the same office; (2) permits a voter to rank
multiple candidates for the same office; or (3) reallocates the vote of
a voter from one candidate to another candidate for the same office."/

Great! Rated ballots forever, and/or two-round methods ("vote for more
than one candidate for the /primary/, vote for only one candidate for
office")!

Or maybe my mostly-in-jest Condorcet method: for n candidates, create
n^2 random "districts", one per pairwise contest, and ask each voter in
the (A,B) district "do you prefer A or B?"

More seriously, though, isn't this illegal? I had the impression that
states were allowed to basically use whatever method they want to pick
their electors.

-km

Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em for list info

Kristopher, we live in a fascist state now in the U.S.  Legality don't matter no more.  It's just about power.One of the reasons we have the Electoral College was that it was understood from the very beginning that states carry out their own elections.  (And the Federal government solely carries out the decennial census, not the states.). There really are no federal-wide elections.  The presidential election in a state is solely about who the state's electors are.But civil rights legislation in the 1960s sorta started changing that, where the red got more involved in the elections in a state.  But there was a Constitutional amendment involved with that.We're so fucked.  Nothing to do except drop our pants and bend over.Powered by Cricket Wireless------ Original message------From: Kristofer Munsterhjelm via Election-MethodsDate: Mon, Feb 2, 2026 07:22To: Rob Lanphier;election-methods@lists.electorama.com;Cc: Subject:Re: [EM] The "Make Elections Great Again Act"On 2026-02-02 03:3 9, Rob Lanphier via Election-Methods wrote: > Hi folks > > In case you hadn't heard, the move to ban RCV (and all electoral reform) > has gone federal in the United States: > https://legiscan.com/US/text/HB7300/id/3343097 > > > Here's the press release: > https://cha.house.gov/press-releases?id=460DC098-9C01-4F60-8BA5-E795D1501893 > > Here's some mainstream reporting about it: > https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5712698-house-republicans-election-reform-bill/ > > ...and here's a post I made to reddit about it earlier today: > https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1qt80c8/proposed_ban_on_rcv_at_the_federal_level/ > > To quote the press release, this will: > > * Require photo identification to vote > * Require states to verify citizenship of individuals when registering > to vote > * Implement stronger routine voter list maintenance requirements in states > * Require mail-in ballots to be received by the close of polls on > election day > * Require states to use auditable paper ballots > * Ban ballot harvesting > * Ban ranked choice voting > * Ban universal vote by mail > > If you were thinking "/great!//  they're banning //RCV/IRV/", bear in > mind that the actual bill contains this: > > /"A State may not carry out a general election for Federal office in > the State using a voting system that— (1) permits a voter to vote for > more than one candidate for the same office; (2) permits a voter to rank > multiple candidates for the same office; or (3) reallocates the vote of > a voter from one candidate to another candidate for the same office."/ Great! Rated ballots forever, and/or two-round methods ("vote for more than one candidate for the /primary/, vote for only one candidate for office")! Or maybe my mostly-in-jest Condorcet method: for n candidates, create n^2 random "districts", one per pairwise contest, and ask each voter in the (A,B) district "do you prefer A or B?" More seriously, though, isn't this illegal? I had the impression that states were allowed to basically use whatever method they want to pick their electors. -km ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em for list info