Vote Maximizer, 2.0
This November, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 33 U.S. Senate seats are up for election, along with 6,139 state-level seats. Representatives who are elected will inevitably shape policy outcomes, making it essential that they are fairly and freely chosen by those that they will represent for the next few years. However, due to fluctuations in turnout and variation in voting access both across and within states, the power that individual voters have to shape the outcomes of these elections is unequally distributed. This is worsened by partisan and racial gerrymandering (which we have seen unprecedented amounts of over the past year).
At the Electoral Innovation Lab, we believe that it is essential that both voters and organizations concerned about fair representation have tools that allow them to identify where they can have the most impact through their donations or direct voter mobilization efforts.
Re-introducing Vote Maximizer
In preparation for these upcoming elections, we have re-launched Vote Maximizer– a free civic tool where voters and organizations interested on fair representation can simply type in a location to identify which elections they can have the biggest impact on, both with their own vote as well as with their efforts to increase fair representation (such as through voter mobilization and donations). We believe that this addresses a gap in available tools with which Americans can increase the effectiveness of their efforts to be represented.
In order to identify the elections where voters have the most impact, and therefore are most at risk, we developed a voter power metric. Employing prediction data, we calculate voter power using the population of a state or district, the competitiveness of an election, and the relative influence an election can have on national electoral outcomes. You can learn more about our data and method by visiting the Vote Maximizer website.
What’s new?
Since its initial launch in 2023, we have updated Vote Maximizer with data for the 2026 midterm elections, and expanded the levels of elections covered, so that it now includes judicial elections. Vote Maximizer can also now direct users to relevant organizations to get involved with, who are engaging in voter mobilization and fair representation.
How can you use it?
Whether you are a voter or are interested in expanding voter turnout in ways that meaningfully increase fair representation, Vote Maximizer can help you identify which elections you can have the most impact in, by simply inputting a city, address or zip code into the Vote Maximizer website.
Learn more about our other civic tools and projects by visiting the Electoral Innovation Lab website.
