Today is the final day to make a tax-deductible donation for 2025, and I want to make the case that funding voting reform, specifically Approval Voting through the Center for Election Science (CES), is a highly leveraged, neglected, and tractable way to improve the long-run future.

Many causes discussed on this forum, whether AI governance, biosecurity, animal welfare, global health, or climate policy, ultimately depend on the quality of the political systems that decide whether good ideas turn into law. When electoral systems reward polarization, strategic voting, and minority rule, even strong evidence and moral arguments struggle to translate into action. Approval Voting directly targets this bottleneck by improving how collective decisions are made, increasing consensus outcomes, and reducing incentives for extremism.

From an EA lens, CES stands out on several dimensions:

• Track record: Approval Voting is already implemented in real elections, including St. Louis mayoral races, and will be used imminently in a state legislative election in Utah. These are not speculative pilots; they are live proof points.
• Cost-effectiveness: Approval Voting requires no new voting machines and minimal administrative overhead. A relatively small amount of funding can unlock durable, systemic change.
• Neglectedness: Voting method reform remains dramatically underfunded relative to its potential downstream impact, especially compared to more politically aligned or donor-dense reform efforts.
• Option value: Improving democratic decision-making increases society’s ability to respond well to future risks we cannot fully predict today.

CES is closing a real funding gap to sustain momentum through the 2026 legislative cycle. Marginal dollars right now directly translate into staff capacity, legislative response, research, and on-the-ground support for jurisdictions ready to adopt Approval Voting.

If you are making final allocation decisions today, I’d encourage you to consider CES as a way to strengthen the meta-infrastructure that many EA priorities rely on.

Donations before midnight count for 2025:
👉 https://electionscience.org/giving

Happy New Year, and thank you for supporting work that helps good ideas win.