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Committee of Seventy focuses on a variety of issues affecting voters in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. Browse the issues we're currently working on, or review our archive for ongoing and past issues.
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About
About

The Committee of Seventy was established in 1904 to combat corruption in Philadelphia, playing a major role in the adoption of civil service reforms and the passage of the 1919 and 1951 Home Rule Charters. A nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, Seventy does not endorse candidates or represent any special interests.
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Latest Updates

For over one hundred years, the Committee of Seventy has been the voice of good government and reform. For press inquiries, please contact us at 617-785-6991.
Interactive Voter Guide

Unscientific Ranked-Choice Survey Tool

THIS IS AN UNSCIENTIFIC TOOL MEANT TO HELP STUDENTS, VOTERS, INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS EXPLORE THE CONCEPT OF RANKED CHOICE VOTING. THESE RESULTS ARE NOT INDICATIVE OF ANY VOTING TRENDS.

Philadelphia's crowded mayoral race is a perfect opportunity to explore ranked choice voting (RCV) - also known as "Instant runoff voting" (IRV), and examine the impact that ranked-choice voting could have if implemented in Pennsylvania.

RCV is straightforward: Voters can rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third, and so forth. Votes that do not help voters' top choices win count for their next choice.

Along with our partners at FairVote, the country's leading authority on RCV, we've made available a public, non-scientific, survey tool simulating RCV in the upcoming primary election for mayor. This educational tool, open to all Philadelphians, is designed to allow users to engage with the popular method of voting used in cities like Oakland, Minneapolis and New York City

The instructions are simple: Select which candidate is your top preference in the 1st column. Select your second-choice candidate in the 2nd column, and so on. You do not need to choose five candidates if you don't want to.

After making selections using the RCV tool below, you'll be able to see the results and how the process works. For example, if a candidate does not win on the first round of counting the votes, the votes of the lowest vote-getter in that round would be reapportioned to those voters' second choices. The process of elimination continues until a candidate receives a majority of the votes.

Separately, the Committee of Seventy will conduct a scientific poll that will draw from a representative sample of city residents, with results released in late-April or early-May.

About the poll

In addition to this web-based, public survey, the Committee of Seventy is partnering with the Urban Affairs Coalition, FairVote, The Philadelphia Citizen and the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia to poll Philadelphia voters in advance of the city’s landmark May 2023 primary to elect our 100th mayor. The scientific poll — which will survey 1,000 Philadelphians in one of the most wide-ranging, competitive mayoral fields in recent memory — will give voters the first nonpartisan look at where the race stands with less than a month to go before Election Day. The results of that poll will be published late-April or early-May.