When I started writing this column, Indy Editor-in-Chief Marianne Partridge and I went back and forth about whether to call it “The” or “An” Unruly Woman. In the end, as she often does, Marianne had the last word, and thankfully so, concluding “An” would be better because, as she wrote, it “implies there is more than one Unruly Woman thrashing about the shrubbery.”
Since then, I’ve been searching for the appropriate collective noun for a group of we Unruly Women, volleying between appellations including pride, pack, pod, and parliament. I’ve also toyed with the potential designations of choir, crew, class, and crowd. But none felt quite right, until last Saturday, when the perfect moniker struck me: a rally.
Truth be told, this Unruly Woman has never felt more at home than I did in the lush foliage of Alameda Park, thrashing about with hundreds of other Unruly Women for the No Kings rally. Since dethroning male monarchs has historically been the specialty of Unruly Women everywhere, it came as no surprise that I found myself in such good company. Still, I couldn’t help but be awed by my compatriots gathering amid the dragon trees and Ironwoods, screaming truth to power at the top of our lungs.
In her blue We the People, OG Unruly Woman and former Santa Barbara State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson stepped to the mic, unflinchingly proclaiming that the Oval Office’s current occupant has “been a lunatic, an incompetent, lying felon since the time he was born.” Though in any other context one might assume such a statement to be hyperbole, I felt in this case she exercised the appropriate restraint of a stateswoman.
Indivisible Santa Barbara VP Myra Paige took the stage as well. Equally as fiery and capable of firing up the crowd, she insisted that voting “is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in our democracy.” Cheers swelled, and the collective waving of early voting ballots ready sent a breeze through the sweltering air.
Dually inspired and pissed off, the No Kings’ Rally of Unruly Women, along with quite a few of our male allies, including and especially the Indy’s own Brian Tanguay, danced down Anacapa Street to the beat of the Brassicals, our fair city’s very own street brass band. Converging at De la Guerra, I had the chance to photograph several Unruly Women in the natural habitat of protest. A picture is worth a thousand words, but this year’s signs took the cake.
As early votes were dropped off and the crowd dispersed, I spotted city councilmember and mayoral candidate Kristen Sneddon across the plaza, who, to my shock and delight, recognized me from this column. Our mutual affinity established, I took the chance to shoot my shot and talk with her about the single greatest obstacle to electing more Unruly Women to office: the electoral system itself.
As studies show, our winner-take-all electoral system discourages women from running in the first place and disadvantages them when they do. So often, women are told to wait their turn, and when “their turn” arrives, voters often undervalue them. But there is a solution, and a simple one at that: Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).
The idea is this: Instead of choosing one candidate, voters can rank their preferences. Dozens of cities nationwide, including Ojai, have adopted RCV; it effectively counteracts attempts to divide voters, reduces partisanship, and increases cooperation between candidates. Most importantly, eliminating winner-take-all elections enables more women to run and win in local, state, and federal elections and, in doing so, creates a more representative democracy.
Indeed, the first woman ever elected to Congress, Jeannette Rankin, was elected using RCV, from Montana, in 1916. If it worked then, I guarantee it’ll work here and now to build better, fairer elections with democratic results.
With the midterms upon us, it’s easy and downright tempting to think that once we cross this finish line victorious, our race will be over. But in truth, this is just the beginning. We must, as citizens and as a country, rebuild our democracy so that never again can oligarchs and demagogues seize power by leveraging an unfair electoral process to their own ends.
I believe we can begin this work and move this goal forward measurably by implementing RCV in Santa Barbara. That’s why I was thrilled to hear Kristen Sneddon supported the idea, and for that, she ranks number one in my book for mayor.
