Wisconsin-based Democracy Found aims to break political gridlock with election reforms

A Wisconsin-based group is looking to shake up the way elections are held in the state in a bid to help politicians forge compromises and break political gridlock.

Democracy Found is pushing for open primaries with the top four finishers, regardless of party, advancing to the general election.

The general election would be determined by ranked choice voting, where voters rank the candidates in order of preference, creating a series of instant runoffs until one candidate achieves a majority. Maine adopted the ranked-choice voting system and it was used last year to determine the winner of a House seat.

The reforms being pushed would affect federal races for the House and U.S. Senate and potentially state offices, including in the Legislature.

The initiative is being championed by Katherine Gehl and others, who outlined the reforms Monday during a presentation at the Greater Milwaukee Committee meeting.

"We don't have a policy problem or a politician people problem. We have a political system problem," said Gehl, the former CEO of her family's food business.

Gehl and Austin Ramirez, chief executive officer of HUSCO International, are co-chairs of Democracy Found.

They appeared on a panel pushing for a reform agenda along with advisory council members of Democracy Found, entrepreneur Andy Nunemaker, and Gregory S. Marcus, chairman and chief executive officer of the Marcus Group.

"Our group is a Noah's ark of Republicans and Democrats," Gehl said.

Democracy Found consists of two operating nonprofit entities, Fix the System Wisconsin, a 501 (c)3 and Fix the System Wisconsin Action, a 501 (c)4.

In 2017, Gehl and economist Michael Porter co-authored a study, "Why Competition In the Politics Industry is Failing America." The report makes the case that the "political system is no longer designed to serve the public interest, and has been slowly reconfigured to benefit the private interests of gain-seeking organizations: our major political parties and their industry allies."

Gehl said politics in America is "a duopoloy, an industry of two major competitors," with barriers to entry that make new competition difficult.

"In any other industry, with this much customer dissatisfaction, some entrepreneur would see a fantastic business opportunity and create new competitors," she said.

Gehl and her group argue that by changing the election system, problem-solving politicians willing to compromise would be rewarded, instead of penalized, giving voters greater choices and the political system a better shot at breaking gridlock.

Ramirez said under the current partisan primary system, "there is a reluctance to compromise."

"If they compromise, chances are they'll have a challenger," he said.

State Sen. Dale Kooyenga, a Republican from Brookfield, and state Rep. Daniel Riemer, a Democrat from Milwaukee, attended the presentation.

They said they are talking to colleagues and working on legislation incorporating the two reforms, open primaries and ranked choice voting.

"The reason to put a bill out there is to get feedback on it," Kooyenga said, adding that passing such a measure would be "a tough conversation."

Riemer said "we're constantly refining the way we elect people."

"A big part of the Progressive movement in the late 19th, 20th century was changing party selection of candidates to open primaries for voters," he said. "So there is no obvious way to elect candidates. Regardless of party you have to think ... how do we keep improving a system that is frustrating for people."