United States
Alaska
Top-four plus ranked choiceA statewide implementation offers data and lived experience beyond simulations.
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Democracy
Top 5 Voting
Concept
Give voters more real choices.
A nonpartisan exploration of electoral reforms intended to reward broad support and make more candidates meaningfully viable.
Proposed direction · Research before intervention · Learn from people already leading the work
Living field guide · interactive
Could broader choice and ranked general elections reward wider coalitions?
Top 5 Voting explores nonpartisan open primaries that advance five candidates, followed by ranked-choice general elections—alongside competing reforms and real implementation concerns.
01 · Pull the levers
Build an illustrative scenario.
Move each control to explore the shape of the idea. The response is a conversation aid, not a forecast, ranking, or promise of impact.
43illustrative
momentum
momentum
Choice
Usability
Accountability
02 · Places to learn from
Move through the field.
These locations are starting points for comparison—not sites Lifeco claims to operate in.
03 · Visual atlas
Three ways into the idea.
04 · Already in motion
Learn from people doing the work.
Independent references, not partners or endorsements. Follow the links, examine the methods, and compare perspectives.
01
United States
FairVote
Ranked-choice voting research and advocacy
Open resource ↗02United States
Center for Election Science
Approval voting research and advocacy
Open resource ↗03United States
Unite America
Nonpartisan election reform
Open resource ↗04United States
Rank the Vote
State-based ranked-choice organizing
Open resource ↗05United States
RepresentWomen
Electoral systems and representation
Open resource ↗05 · Productive uncertainty
The questions should stay visible.
Does the system broaden power or merely rearrange it?
Giving voters more meaningful choices
Top 5 Voting is an early-stage nonprofit project exploring electoral systems that give voters a wider field of viable candidates and encourage candidates to earn broad public support.
The exact model still needs to be defined openly. That includes how candidates enter and advance from the first round, how the final five appear on the general-election ballot, how voters express their preferences, and how the winner is counted. The project will compare available approaches rather than assume that one design choice solves every problem.
What the project will study
Top 5 Voting will examine voter choice, participation, competition, representation, accessibility, election administration, public understanding, legal pathways, costs, and unintended consequences. It will learn from existing election reforms and from the people who run and participate in elections.
The project is intended to be nonpartisan. Any proposal should be judged by whether it gives voters a stronger voice, produces legitimate and understandable outcomes, and helps representative government respond to the public—not by which party or candidate might benefit in a particular election.
Current status
Early concept development. The next step is to define the proposed system precisely, study comparable reforms, identify the most promising jurisdictions and legal pathways, and invite review from election administrators, voting-rights advocates, reform organizations, researchers, and voters.
How to help
If you have experience with election law, voting systems, election administration, civic organizing, public education, accessibility, or political science, contact Lifeco and mention Top 5 Voting.