Equal Vote Coalition

2026-2030 Strategic Plan

Mission

Our current voting method is inherently unequal, and this inequality has decidedly negative consequences: outsized influence of money in politics, hyper-partisan rancor, and widespread electoral disenchantment.

At its core, the Equal Vote Coalition's mission is "to promote true equality in the vote." 

That means working toward a future where every voter can vote their conscience and every vote carries equal power, no matter how many candidates are in the race. 

Implementing better voting methods is the cornerstone — helping unlock democracy of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Vision for the future

We envision a world in which voters are incentivized and empowered to vote their conscience and elections platform the candidates who best represent the electorate. 

To get there, we're building a collaborative and robust network of electoral reformers who can accomplish more by pulling together than they could alone. Equal Vote seeks to strengthen that network through shared knowledge, practical resources, trusted tools, and programs designed around meeting the real needs of the people doing this work.

Theory of Change

Equal Vote was founded on the premise that true equality in the vote is the cornerstone of real democracy. Unlocking a truly equal vote means ensuring that the system itself isn't biasing outcomes or creating glass-ceilings. No matter who you are, where you are, or how you affiliate, your vote should be just as powerful as anyone else's. 

Voting-method reform is a foundational and unusually high-leverage intervention. Upgrading the voting method itself is the essential first step that we believe can catalyze a chain reaction. 

Voting methods shape if or how voters are able to express their honest opinions and they shape the incentives candidates face — When voting methods fail to accurately measure voter preference, this causes vote-splitting and spoiled elections, which in turn leads factions to gatekeep and limit the choices on the ballot. Over time these toxic incentives drive polarization, unrepresentative outcomes, and widespread disillusionment with our democracy itself. We can do way better!

A strong proposal alone, however, is not enough to produce durable reform. Progress demands rigorous research to back up recommendations, accessible public education, persuasive outreach, capable local leadership, reliable implementation resources, and organizations prepared to collaborate over the long term.

Equal Vote develops its programs and resources to meet these practical needs. We identify barriers that have prevented voting reform from advancing further and faster, fill gaps in the reform ecosystem, and create tools that can be shared across communities and organizations. Our work connects electoral science with real-world organizing and implementation so that strong ideas can become successful, lasting reforms.

Our six programs provide the roadmap to navigate to our north star.

• Operations sustains the staff, volunteers, governance, fundraising, technology, communications systems, and organizational infrastructure needed to support the mission.
• Research advances electoral science, evaluates voting methods and reform proposals, and develops the evidence needed to inform advocacy, public policy, and implementation.
• Education translates complex concepts into accurate, accessible, shelf-stable resources for voters, advocates, journalists, educators, election officials, and policymakers.
• Outreach shares our work and vision with broader audiences, builds public awareness, develops relationships, and creates opportunities for media engagement and collaboration.
• Chapters cultivate local leaders and volunteer networks capable of educating their communities, building coalitions, and advancing reform from the ground up.
• Implementation helps organizations and jurisdictions put better voting methods into practice. This program includes BetterVoting.com, certification work, case studies, technical assistance, and other resources that reduce barriers to successful adoption.

Our Program Map provides additional detail on the committees, deliverables, and metrics for each program.

Strategic Priorities: 

Our north star long-term objective is widespread adoption of better voting methods that advance equality of voice and help realize the full promise of representative democracy.

Over the next several years, Equal Vote will pursue that objective through the following priorities.

> Advance adoption of better voting methods.

We will continue building the evidence, public understanding, coalitions, leadership, and implementation capacity needed to move better voting methods from promising ideas to routine democratic practice.

Equal Vote recommends STAR Voting for maximizing voter choice and accuracy with a five-star ballot, Approval voting for simplicity on a familiar traditional ballot, and Ranked Robin for upgrading ranked ballot elections. For legislative bodies where the goal is proportional representation, any of these methods can be implemented to maximize diversity of representation across multiple seats. 

Our approach is to meet communities where they are, identify their problems and goals for electoral reform, and recommend research-based, practical solutions that deliver. 

> Stabilize and diversify organizational funding.

Our immediate priority is to establish secure sustainable funding for our core operations and strategic initiatives.

A reliable financial foundation will ensure that current programs remain active and continue progressing, while allowing us to sustainably scale our staff to build resiliency. From there we'll be in a position to launch the new projects that our volunteers have identified as mission-critical for our next phase. 

> Complete and launch major projects already underway.

We will bring a current slate of high-value projects to completion, including the public launch of our BetterVoting web-app. "BetterVoting is your one-stop, open-source tool for handling all your election needs. Whether it's informal polls or highly secure elections, electronic or paper, single-seat or multi-seat, we've got you covered!"

Other up and coming projects nearing completion include the publication of a number of new research reports and papers, a database of consequential election data from better voting methods for data analysis, and a suite of case studies from organizations and jurisdictions piloting better voting methods.

> Strengthen Equal Vote’s public story and digital presence.

Our public materials should make our research, resources, history, achievements, and opportunities for participation easier to find, understand, and use. Updating our web presence is long overdue and will make the user experience more intuitive when navigating between the Equal.Vote, BetterVoting.com, and StarVoting.org websites. In tandem with this, we'll be launching our own political podcast and publishing our Democracy 101 video series. 

> Launch a prime-time outreach effort.

Once the BetterVoting website is ready to launch, our team is ready to respond, and our websites are ready to receive a new wave of prospective election reformers, we will undertake a coordinated outreach initiative. The goal will be to share our vision well beyond the existing reform community. This effort will include a tour of political podcasts, shows, and events around the country. 

> Build a stronger collaborative movement.

Through it all, we will continue to prioritize connecting organizations, researchers, advocates, local leaders, and volunteers around areas of shared purpose. Equal Vote’s role is to help build a coalition that is more than the sum of its parts: one that shares knowledge, reduces duplicated effort, supports complementary reforms, and develops solutions to common barriers.

Measuring Progress

Our highest measure of success is the adoption and successful use of better voting methods.

Progress toward that goal will also be reflected in:

• Greater financial stability and diversified support.
• Continued operation and growth across all six programs.
• Growth in volunteers, partnerships, and coalition activity.
• Successful launch and adoption of BetterVoting.
• Publication of new research reports, and educational resources.
• A clearer and more effective website landscape and public narrative.
• Expanded media coverage and public awareness.
• More organizations and jurisdictions prepared to adopt and implement better voting methods successfully.

Looking Ahead

Equal Vote is working toward a future in which the status quo is widely understood to be outdated and harmful and where upgrading the voting methods is understood to be the key to upgrading our democratic institutions, reversing the outsized influence of money in politics, empowering voters to hold politicians accountable, and stopping toxic polarization at the root.

Equal Vote’s strategy is to help build that movement while addressing the real barriers standing between strong reforms and successful adoption. By strengthening the body of electoral science research, developing practical resources, supporting local leaders, and helping reformers work together, we aim to accelerate the transition from the voting systems we have inherited to the democracy voters deserve.