Determining the Viability of Final-Five Voting in Nevada

53% support for Question 3 in November election
3,000 Nevadans surveyed to develop insights and models

Partnership with The Institute for Political Innovation

In 2022, multiple state-based organizations gathered signatures and brought Question 3, a measure to enact Final-Five Voting (FFV) in Nevada, to the ballot.

The Institute for Political Innovation (IPI), a key actor in the electoral reform space, sees FFV as a necessary innovation to realign industry incentives, promote healthy competition, and ensure politicians are held accountable. With Question 3 on the ballot and Citizen Data’s history of research and assistance in passing a similar vote method in Alaska in 2020, IPI approached Citizen with a question: is Nevada ready for that change?

" Citizen Data is the trusted partner for data, messaging, and audience targeting for nonpartisan election reform.

Sylvie Doppelt, Managing Director for IPI

In partnership with IPI, Citizen launched a large-scale custom survey and model to accurately understand and better predict the viability of Question 3’s passage while also providing a clear path to victory. In so doing, we also identified persuasive messaging that could move the needle among undecided voters.

Through our strategic data and insights, we were able to drive investments to the campaign and deployed targeting on the ground that enabled Question 3 to win with 53% of the vote.

Why IPI Chose Citizen Data

The Institute for Political Innovation is a cross-partisan, not-for-profit organization that contributes theory, scholarship, and strategy to catalyze political change in America.

It is leading the effort to seed and support state-based campaigns for Final-Five Voting and broadening the discussion and scholarship around political innovation.

IPI needed to determine if the reform had a viable chance to gain approval and how they could best deploy their vast knowledge and resources to bring FFV to the people of Nevada and approached Citizen for two main reasons:

Years of experience in the nonpartisan election reform space means best-in-class data available to bipartisan, cross-partisan, and nonpartisan efforts and advocates; and
In 2020, Citizen played a vital role in the successful campaign to implement a nearly identical system in Alaska.

Our expertise instilled confidence in the partner that we were the right fit to help them bring FFV to Nevada.

" We knew that (Citizen’s) breadth of data and expertise would be instrumental in building the plan to pass Final Five Voting in Nevada.

Sylvie Doppelt, Managing Director for IPI

How Citizen Data Responded

Citizen worked quickly to determine if the campaign had legs to stand on. Within a week, we developed a custom survey and discovered that Question 3 had majority support (50.3%) with potential room to grow due to 26% of respondents being unsure.

After matching these responses to the voter file, we conducted statistical analyses to score all Nevadans on whether they are likely to support — or to be persuaded by compelling messaging to support — Question 3.

We provided those voter lists to campaign partners on the ground for tailoring their outreach tactics to ensure supporter mobilization and persuasion of undecideds.

Citizen also:

Discovered the best way to explain the measure for maximum support;
Tested the best messages to increase support;
Determined the most effective messages that opponents could use so the campaign could prepare counter-messaging; and
Identified a subset of conservative voters who were persuadable for FFV.

" Citizen established clear communication and project expectations from the beginning and maintained proactive and helpful collaboration throughout the project. Deadlines were always met, and we loved working with the team.

Sylvie Doppelt, Managing Director for IPI

The Results

Multiple funders chose to invest in the campaign thanks, in part, to our research showing Question 3’s viability. Partners on the ground also used our data to mobilize a critical subset of Final-Five Voting supporters. Ultimately, the ballot measure passed, winning 53% of the vote and a key victory for electoral reform.

" The project was successful in what we set out to achieve. The passage of FFV with a nearly 6-point margin was an enormous victory for Nevadans, and Citizen’s data modeling and audience targeting were hugely effective in allowing the campaign to reach voters.

Sylvie Doppelt, Managing Director for IPI

In Nevada, an initiated constitutional amendment requires approval in two even-numbered election years, meaning Question 3 must pass again in 2024 to amend the state’s Constitution. We look forward to potentially playing a role in ensuring Nevadans continue to hear about the benefits of Final-Five Voting and depolarize elections in the state moving forward.

Do you have a reform — or group of reforms — you’re looking to pass at the district, city, or state level? Get in touch to see how Citizen can bring these services that helped pass Question 3 in Nevada to your target area.

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Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) and Citizen Data joined forces in early 2022 to research American attitudes toward the language used by civic groups. The results were a suite of actionable insights delivered via a bespoke, user-friendly dashboard product, allowing for coordination across the pro-democracy space.