The Latest Update on IRV’s Status
in the Texas Legislature

The legislative session isn’t over yet! As of date of publication, here’s where things stand with instant runoff voting (IRV). We’ve worked hard to build support, but so far we haven’t been able to get enough momentum in the House to move a bill forward. On the bright side, we’ve been successful in slowing a bill that would ban IRV statewide. That’s a big win, but the fight isn’t over. We expect more attempts to push the ban bill soon, and we’ll need your help again to stop it.

Every message, call, and conversation makes a difference. While we haven’t made the progress we hoped for this time, public interest in IRV is growing, and more lawmakers are starting to listen. We’re staying engaged and building support for the future. Thanks for being part of this movement!

There will be more requests for your help to stop these ban bills from passing if they move forward. Your continued effortsv can help defeat them!

San Antonio’s Runoff Reveals the Need
for Ranked Choice Voting

On May 3, San Antonio, the 7th largest city in the U.S., held an election for mayor. This is the first time since 2016 that there wasn’t an incumbent. The field was so wide open that 27 candidates were on the ballot for the mayor’s race. With this many candidates running, a runoff was all but certain.

Turnout for this election was abysmally low. San Antonio has over 1.2 million registered voters, of whom only 9.2% (116,483) showed up to vote. Now, the city and Bexar County will need to host a runoff election for two candidates who received 27% and 16% of the votes, respectively. Could this many candidates actually dampen voter enthusiasm? Would more voters have voted if they knew they could rank their top favorites?

Residents will have to wait until June 7 to vote in the runoff, and the county will pay millions of dollars to hold this one runoff.

But what if San Antonio were permitted to use Instant Runoff Voting? The city and county would not have to schedule another election, which will include the use of more than 50 polling locations and hundreds of election workers. Further, the final election results announcing the new mayor could have been known on May 3.

Instant Runoff Voting would help the city save money and streamline their election process!

Get Involved: It Takes Each of Us

Action Alerts

Your Voice Matters! Your efforts to contact legislators about the ban bills (SB 310 and HB 817) are much appreciated. Please continue to watch your email for Action Alerts if the legislature moves these bills forward and respond ASAP. It might not always seem like it, but YOUR VOICE matters!

Canvassing Town Halls

Town halls provide a great canvassing opportunity for you to attract IRV support. HELP US FIND THOSE TOWN HALLS! Go to your congressman’s Facebook page and website to find when and where a town hall is happening in your district. We will provide you all the tools you need to canvass. Email Lora Schafer.

Special Tech Skills Needed!

We need people with the following skills to help us spread the word about instant runoff voting:

• General Administration
• Graphic Design

If you can volunteer some time each month to help us promote IRV to the many Texans who don’t know about it, we can really make strides in our efforts to make IRV a reality in Texas!

Whether it’s contributing your time, donating to the cause, or spreading the word, every effort counts. Let’s create elections that work for everyone.

Would you pitch in $11 to help Instant Runoff Voting for Texas bring this transformative election reform to Texas?

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