Ranked-choice voting is trending after Alaska voters elected Mary Peltola to the state's only U.S. House seat by using a new voting system.

What is ranked-choice voting, and why does it matter? Let's take a look. ⬇️ 2/ In ranked-choice voting, a candidate wins outright if they receive over 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes as a first-choice candidate is eliminated and those voters’ second choices are added into the mix.

1/ This week marks one year since Texas became the first state to ban most abortions. The state’s law, known as Senate Bill 8, was without precedent and offered a glimpse into a world without Roe v. Wade. bit.ly/3Tz7Twq 2/ Rather than criminal punishment, SB8 relied on civil litigation — anyone who “aided or abetted” an illegal abortion could be sued for $10,000.

The past year has completely changed the landscape for Texans with unintended pregnancies. bit.ly/3Tz7Twq

Multiple Republican midterm candidates have removed from their campaign sites references to particularly strict anti-abortion stances, a shift and an indication of growing concern in the Republican Party over how to handle abortion policy post-Roe v. Wade. bit.ly/3R4GEIx Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters removed language from his website indicating support for a “federal personhood law” that would treat abortion as murder.

Masters’ website now suggests he supports a law banning third-trimester abortions. bit.ly/3R4GEIx

On the second day of camp at Tools & Tiaras, 15 girls learning to rivet sheet metal had a special guest. They may not have known him by name, but they definitely knew who he was married to.

"His wife is the first woman vice president in this country." bit.ly/3BOqUnY .@jenniferagerson joined Second Gentleman @DouglasEmhoff on his visit to the camp designed to encourage girls’ interest in construction-related trades, bolstering his unofficial platform within the administration: gender equity and men supporting women. bit.ly/3BOqUnY

Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s opposition to changing Senate filibuster rules has caused her to lose support from the abortion rights group @NARAL and the similarly aligned Emily’s List over her stance against the changes. 🧵bit.ly/33DaRe8 Sinema said, in a statement to The 19th, that the filibuster “has been used repeatedly to protect against wild swings in federal policy, including in the area of protecting women’s health care.”

Saturday marks the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It could very well be the last before it is overturned.

With national abortion protections hanging by a thread, stories of a pre-Roe v. Wade nation matter now perhaps more than ever. 🧵 19thne.ws/roe Before Roe v. Wade, people seeking abortions went to extreme lengths for risky procedures. There was the lingering worry that a procedure might not work. And, if it did, that it could result in medical complications — or even death. 19thne.ws/roe

A majority of justices seems likely to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.

It would represent a major weakening of Roe v. Wade.

Read the full analysis of today's oral arguments from @shefalil:
19thnews.org/2021/12/suprem… The court’s three liberal justices — Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — indicated they were skeptical that the Mississippi law should be upheld. 19thnews.org/2021/12/suprem…

🧵The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in a case that could end almost 50 years of guaranteed abortion rights.
19thnews.org/2021/11/suprem… Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization examines the constitutionality of a law from Mississippi that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
19thnews.org/2021/11/aborti…

Save the date! 📅

On Thursday, join us for a virtual event series on building a more equitable internet. Get ready for conversations with experts on broadband accessibility, online harassment, algorithm bias and more.

RSVP today: crowdcast.io/e/19th-represe… #19thRepresents Meet some of our speakers:

📲 @MonicaLewinsky, producer and activist
📲 @SenTinaSmith, U.S. Senator
📲 @jennylayfluffy, Chief Accessibility Officer @Microsoft
📲 @thekoreanvegan, attorney and blogger

Save your free seat: crowdcast.io/e/19th-represe…

🧵Today on #GivingNewsDay, we're kicking off our annual Fall Member Drive!

We're inviting you, our readers, to become members and to support our newsroom’s efforts to lead change.✨

Will you help us rally 500 new members by December 10? Join us today: bit.ly/3E5T0JX What does it mean to lead change? The 19th is committed to:

🟣 Reporting with empathy.
🟣 Reimagining storytelling.
🟣 Transforming the news.

bit.ly/3E5T0JX

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments this fall over the constitutionality of Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.

Some states are moving forward with even tighter restrictions, with a growing list banning abortion after six weeks. 🧵bit.ly/3uVmvsq In May, Texas became the latest state to pass a six-week abortion ban.

In total, 13 states have passed these bans: Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina and Georgia. bit.ly/3uVmvsq

The April #JobsReport is out.

- 165,000 women left the workforce, meaning they stopped looking for work altogether
- 355,000 men joined the workforce
- The U.S. economy is still short about 2 million women workers.

Here’s what else the report shows: 🧵bit.ly/2PYsPRz Unemployment rates continue to be higher for women of color.

- 8.6% for Black women
- 7.5% for Latinas
- 4.8% for White women

Black men have the highest unemployment rate of any racial group at 10.2 percent. bit.ly/2PYsPRz

Today marks #MomsEqualPayDay, or how far into the year the average working mom has to work to earn what fathers earned last year alone.

Mothers are paid $0.75 for every dollar paid to fathers, totaling in annual losses of $15,000+, per new @nwlc analysis. cnbc.com/2021/05/05/ful… For mothers of color, the pay gap increases.

https://twitter.com/nwlc/status/1390005364767313925

🧵Harvard’s @GenderSciLab on Monday published the first study that examines the race and gender of those dying from COVID-19.

The study found that Black women are dying from COVID at three times the rate of both White and Asian men in Georgia and Michigan.bit.ly/2PxwCoO The researchers examined census data and publicly available COVID-19 mortality data through September 21, 2020, from Michigan and Georgia — the only two states that reported disaggregated age, race and sex information. bit.ly/2PxwCoO

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has vetoed #HB1570. The bill would have been the first law to ban gender-affirming medical care for youth.

“...the state should not presume to jump into the middle of every medical, human and ethical issue,” Hutchinson said. 19thnews.org/2021/04/arkans… Gov. Hutchinson added that the state wanted to send a message of “tolerance and diversity.”

Hutchinson, who due to term limits cannot run for governor again, penned a transgender sports ban into law in March. bit.ly/2R859ue

Nearly 500,000 women returned to the workforce in March, compared to about 162,000 men, according to new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

Women still remain behind pre-pandemic employment levels. bit.ly/3dAoAn8 Women-dominated industries, including leisure and hospitality, are beginning to bounce back just as students who have been learning remotely for months return to in-person classes. bit.ly/3dAoAn8

🧵Michigan voters in 2018 elected women to a level of representation nearly unparalleled in U.S. states.

But the state’s politics are still plagued with an old-school sexism. Current, former women officials say a culture of misogyny has existed for years. bit.ly/2POSHyL The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party called three top statewide elected officials “witches” in a speech last week. bit.ly/2POSHyL

🧵Today is #TransDayOfVisibility.

Over a decade ago, Rachel Crandall-Crocker wanted a reason for transgender people to celebrate and come together. So she created one.

Millions of people now recognize March 31 as a day to celebrate trans people worldwide.bit.ly/39waZMi It was 2009, and at the time, the only annual event that most trans communities had — Transgender Day of Remembrance — was nothing to celebrate.

#TDOR was born in 1998 after Rita Hester, a Black trans women in Boston, was murdered in her own apartment. bit.ly/39waZMi

The insurrection marked the first time the U.S. Capitol had been breached in more than 200 years.

Court documents reviewed by The 19th begin to paint a picture of women’s roles and intentions during the insurrection.

Here’s what we found: 🧵 bit.ly/37TgDqT The 19th’s @keaux_ reviewed more than 230 cases, and identified 28 women facing charges.

— 21 have been released while they wait for their cases to proceed
— 5 await behind bars
— 2 cases are pending bit.ly/37TgDqT

A federal committee has voted in favor of granting emergency authorization to Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot COVID-19 vaccine.

If authorized for emergency use by @US_FDA, it could speed up vaccine distribution and help alleviate equity concerns. bit.ly/2P5yLHt How is Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine different than Moderna and Pfizer’s?

— It’s simpler to produce because it requires only one dose.

— Experts say it might be easier to give to people who don’t have consistent access to the health care system. bit.ly/2P5yLHt

🧵 The House is set to vote Friday on a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill.

It will retain many of the elements women lawmakers and advocates have been fighting for, but some provisions may face steep odds in the Senate.

Here’s what made it in and out: bit.ly/3dPayzJ Child tax credit:

— Historic expansion of the child tax credit, up to as much as $3,600, making it available to the poorest children.

— The expansion would expire after a year. bit.ly/3dPayzJ