News Release

For Immediate Release
March 12, 2021

Contact         

Chris Hughes, Media Liaison
Phone: 833-868-3728
chris.hughes@rcvresources.org 

Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center Releases Video Highlighting the RCV Universal Tabulator Software 

The Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center (RCVRC) is the nation’s leading nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on education, research, training, and implementation of ranked-choice voting.  In mid-2020, the Resource Center partnered with McNabb Storytelling to share the story about how the RCVRC worked with Bright Spots to develop the free, open-source Universal Ranked Choice Voting Tabulator, a verifiable, trustworthy tabulation software for use in ranked-choice voting elections. 

We are excited to announce the video, titled Universal Tabulator: Opening the Door to Ranked Choice Voting, was released last week in our online premiere event.  The video explores the benefits of ranked-choice voting as an election reform, the challenges for implementation, and the solution the RCV Universal Tabulator provides.  After months of interviews and overcoming pandemic limitations, we are finally able to share the story of this unique product that has the potential to impact ranked-choice voting implementations nationwide. 

The video features:

•      Louis Eisenberg, one of the three Bright Spots developers of the tabulation software.

•      Armin Samii, creator of the RCVis, a visualization tool to show round-by-round results.

•      Maria Perez, co-founder of Democracy Rising, an organization focused on advocacy, implementation, education in the RCV space.

•      Beverly York, RCVRC Consultant and former North Carolina election administrator.

•      Chris Hughes, RCVRC Policy Director and leading RCV expert.

•      George Gilbert, RCVRC Senior Elections Analyst and former North Carolina election administrator.

 Award-winning filmmaker, Bryce McNabb of McNabb Storytelling, created the short form documentary style marketing video for the Resource Center.  Bryce is a 3-time Emmy award winning filmmaker who incorporates his storytelling skills and technical filmmaking abilities to create compelling work. He has been making videos since 2010 and in the past 10 years has focused on primarily short form documentary marketing videos.

URCVT software incorporates security and tabulation best practices for tabulating or verifying election results. The tabulator uses secure data reports provided by a jurisdiction’s voting system to process the round-by-round counts necessary in a ranked-choice voting election. Key security and tabulation features include:

• Customizable configuration to conform to local and state election law across the United States.

• Best practices for securely tabulating data, including installation of software on non-internet connected computers and regular software updates.

• Encryption code to confirm open-source software has not been altered.

• Tested at the federal level by an independent lab, approved by US Election Assistance Commission (EAC)

• Adheres to the standards of the Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines (VVSG) of the EAC. 

• Tested and certified by the State of Michigan and the State of Utah for use in certain local elections, as well as Benton County, Oregon, for audit validation. 

“We take the value of everyone’s vote very seriously, and that is why we have done the work to make sure that our tabulator software will work for any jurisdiction across the nation.” Gary Bartlett, RCVRC President and Former Executive Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections said.  “We are proud to offer a free, open-source solution that will make ranked-choice voting accessible to jurisdictions of all sizes across the country.” 

The RCVRC’s goal is to help voters be confident that every vote is counted and to encourage them to cast their vote in every election. The URCVT is a fundamental part of ensuring voters know their votes count. Voters should hold the ultimate choice of who governs.  We believe that ranked-choice voting gives voters more choice and places candidates with broad appeal in a better position to serve, and our mission is to provide the tools necessary to make implementation a possibility.

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The Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center, a division of Election Administration Resource Center, is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides accurate, reliable, tested, and research-based resources and information regarding ranked-choice voting.  Our national presence as the leading experts on this voting method allows us to help jurisdictions use best practices to implement ranked-choice voting.  We target our resources to meet the needs of policymakers, election administrators, voters, and advocates.  For more information, please see our website at www.rcvresources.org. 

Bright Spots is a small group of software professionals based in the San Francisco Bay Area who have united over their shared commitment to supporting both short-term causes and long-term nonpartisan reforms to improve the function of our democracy. They identify promising organizations aligned with their values and then seek to amplify the impact of those organizations by contributing financial support or engaging in pro bono specialized projects.