Lisa D.T. Rice, the driving force behind DC's Initiative 83 to permit ranked choice voting and open primaries, joins the show to explain how a missing ballot turned her into one of the most relentless reformers in the country. She breaks down why closed primaries are really a voting-rights problem, how she took on two fights at once - open primaries and ranked choice voting - in the heart of a 95% one-party city, and how rooting reform in everyday issues like food deserts is what actually wins elections. Then comes the gut-punch: voters passed her initiative with 73%, and she still couldn't cast a ballot. Stick around for the protest she threw in response, the go-go song she commissioned to troll the city council, and the lawsuit threat she says she "wouldn't put past someone." 

This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. 

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at: https://ivn.us  and https://independentvoterproject.org 

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:
https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Why Independent Voters Are Shut Out of Elections
00:01:07 – Meet Lisa Rice and the Fight for DC Reform
00:03:10 – Discovering the Cost of Leaving a Political Party
00:04:21 – Open Primaries as a Voting Rights Issue
00:06:10 – Taking on Washington, DC’s Political Establishment
00:07:35 – How Initiative 83 Won with 73% of the Vote
00:09:47 – Connecting Election Reform to Community Needs
00:11:20 – Court Battles, Ranked Choice Voting, and What Comes Next
00:13:24 – The “Picket at the Thicket” Protest for Voter Access
00:15:28 – Building a Movement for Independent Voters and Reform