FairVote Letter of Support for Open Voting

FairVote's Support for Open Source Voting

FairVote, one of the nation's leading nonpartisan organizations advocating for electoral reform, has expressed strong support for open source voting systems. As a champion of ranked-choice voting, proportional representation, and inclusive election practices, FairVote recognizes that the technology underlying elections must be as transparent and accountable as the democratic processes it supports.

In their letter of support, FairVote highlighted that open source voting technology aligns with the organization's core mission of making elections fairer and more representative. Proprietary voting systems create unnecessary barriers to public understanding of how votes are counted, particularly in jurisdictions that use ranked-choice voting where the tabulation algorithm is more complex than simple plurality counting. Open source software removes these barriers by making the entire counting process publicly verifiable.

FairVote also emphasized the importance of interoperability and shared development. As more jurisdictions adopt ranked-choice voting, the need for reliable, well-tested tabulation software grows. An open source approach allows communities to share a common codebase, reducing duplication of effort and ensuring that improvements made by one jurisdiction benefit all users of the system. This collaborative model is particularly valuable for smaller communities that may lack the resources to develop or procure sophisticated election technology independently.

The organization's endorsement adds significant weight to the open source voting movement, bringing together the causes of electoral reform and technology transparency under a shared vision of elections that are fair, accessible, and verifiable by every citizen.