As a member-driven organization, AMAC Action takes its marching orders directly from the membership. That means AMAC members set the legislative priorities and AMAC Action, as the advocacy affiliate of AMAC, sets out to execute these priorities in Washington, DC, state legislatures, and in communities throughout America via our network of Delegates and Chapters.
We’re all aware of the results of the 2020 election which thrust AMAC Action into the election integrity arena as requested by the membership. Election integrity comprises many initiatives including, voter ID, cleaning up voter rolls, disallowing illegal immigrants the right to vote, prohibiting third-party money from infiltrating local elections to influence outcomes, stopping federal election takeover attempts, requiring post-election audits, protecting vulnerable voters, staffing poll observers and election workers, and the list goes on.
One way the Left is pushing to rig elections to favor their candidates is through a process known as ranked-choice voting (RCV). Under the RCV scheme, voters rank several candidates in order of preference instead of just voting for their chosen candidate. The candidate with more than 50 percent of first place votes wins the election. However, if no one initially garners a majority of votes, those with the fewest votes are eliminated. The process repeats as votes are tallied for the second-place candidate, third place-place candidate, etc. until one candidate receives a majority of the remaining votes and is declared the “winner”.
Sound confusing? That’s because it is. Ranked-choice voting turns winners into losers and complicates voting. It could discourage election turnout and makes tabulating votes laborious and unclear. It’s a process that is less transparent, more partisan, and completely unnecessary.
It’s no surprise that AMAC Action has been involved with RCV initiatives, either supporting legislation that outlaws it or opposing legislation that would allow it, in state legislatures throughout the country. One state that has been persistent in its pursuit of ranked-choice voting is Illinois. The state legislature there has been pushing legislation that would allow ranked-choice voting for presidential primaries as well as elections for Illinois’ Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, and Treasurer.
AMAC Action, working as a member of a local and national coalition to stop RCV from advancing in Illinois, engaged AMAC’s nearly 75,000 members there to contact the state House of Representatives and the state Senate to tell these representatives not to support the ranked-choice voting measures. Four call-to-action campaigns were directed to Illinois AMAC members and the response underscores why conservative citizen advocacy matters and is so impactful.
Over 5,340 Illinois AMAC member advocates responded to our calls-to-action and left an astounding 254,210-plus messages for members of the Illinois House of Representatives and state Senate. In two separate campaigns, AMAC members sent over 1,450 messages to each individual state House representative and over 1,720 messages to each member of the state Senate.
The efforts by AMAC members were the talk of Springfield and coalition member Andy Bakker, who is the Field Director for the Illinois Opportunity Project and who also testified in opposition to RCV at two recent subject matter hearings held in the state House and Senate, said he “took some heat” from Illinois House members because they couldn’t believe the volume of emails generated by these campaigns. Mr. Bakker wore that feedback as a badge of honor and a compliment to AMAC members’ part in this collaborative effort to beat back ranked-choice voting.
So, what happened after these campaigns and Mr. Bakker’s testimony? The collective voice of AMAC members in Illinois was heard and along with other coalition efforts, the momentum has stopped as no action has been taken to advance ranked-choice voting – for now. There could be more hearings and the coalition will be monitoring any activity until the Illinois legislative session ends in May.
It’s important to note that conservative citizen advocacy is the catalyst that is driving the opposition to ranked-choice voting in Illinois. In addition to AMAC members’ response, the coalition produced thousands of witness slips opposing RCV, which were completed by grassroots activists, that also contributed to the recent inactivity on these terrible bills.
Be encouraged and engage in these issues when you can. An email here, a telephone call there, mobilizes the voice of conservatives on key issues. The experience in a heavily Democrat state like Illinois demonstrates that your voice can be heard – and heeded.
Andy Bakker sums it up best when he says, “Grassroots engagement remains the most effective way to make policy changes. We are proud to have AMAC Action as a coalition partner working against these radical changes to our election system and look forward to continuing in the fight alongside AMAC members”.
AMAC Action provides a platform to ensure that the voice of 50+ conservative Americans is mobilized and heard in Washington, DC and in states throughout the country. Please click here to review AMAC Action’s Advocacy Annual Reports to read how this strong conservative voice is growing and delivering results.
Andrew Mangione is Senior Vice President of AMAC Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit conservative advocacy organization, created to serve as the advocacy affiliate of the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC). He also serves as an AMAC national spokesperson.
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For Andrew Mangione and everyone at AMAC Action — what you do is appreciated. Great work, in the spirit of respect for truth , for good sense, for the defense of liberty. Helping to guard and advance the values of Faith, Family and Freedom. Well Done !
Rank Choice Voting should be avoided like the plague.
Too little, too late? These days it feels like the drain plug has been pulled on this country and we’re simply riding the boat down the leftist vortex.
Something needs to be done to break up the uniparty’s monopoly.
AMAC, along with the Heritage Foundation, Hillsdale College, PragerU, the Freedom Foundation and many other conservative organizations are all working to turn the tide on the leftist liberal mess in this country. I believe it will take years, but will eventually happen. I hope I’m still around to see it.
Keep up the good work AMAC and ALL members.
It is an important success story. The list of work arounds for fair elections is bit disheartening. One I’ve been concerned about is vote harvesting which seems to favor the Democratic Party.
In addition to the steps mentioned in the article to secure our elections I would add, get rid of the electronic voting machines and go to paper ballots where the citizen marks the box beside the name of the individual for whom he wishes to vote. This would also get rid of the drop boxes that facilitate cheating. Also no mail out ballots except for absentee ballots for people who legitimately can’t vote in person and the absentee ballots must be counted no later than close of business on election day. Also a very short period of early voting, no more than one week before the election and no debates after early voting starts.
Excellent article but the fact still remains, the election was stolen and diaper joe is not the true elected President. Until he’s removed, prosecuted and tried for treason, nothing will ever be the same…we’ll never know if the individual that wins an election is the true winner or not.
Trump needs to be vindicated and reinstated as President. Those responsible for the steal, and for the Russia hoax need to all be prosecuted and put in prison for life, or given the choice of being exiled to the Communist Country of their choosing, with no possibility of ever returning to this country.
Do not leave bho behind oh and soros
Excellent article.
Thank you AMAC.
Thank you AMAC members of Illinois for standing up for what is right.
And thank you AMAC members across the United States of America
for standing up.
We are STRONG, UNITED, and
AMERICANS.
GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU and the
UNITED STATES of AMERICA.