New nonpartisan initiative hopes to achieve 51% female representation in state legislatures by 2024

Women make up 51% of the nation's population, yet make up fewer than 31% of state legislators, according to campaign training and leadership program Vote Run Lead. With a new initiative, the founder and CEO of the program hopes to change that percentage to create a more representative U.S. government and reform democracy.

"When more women get into public office, more bills get passed, more money goes home to their districts. There's a more bipartisan manner. The budget actually gets passed on the deadline that it's supposed to be," founder and CEO of Vote Run Lead Erin Vilardi told CBSN's Tanya Rivero on Friday. "When more women are in government, government is better." The nonpartisan initiative, called Run/51, is working to achieve 51% of total representation in state legislatures by 2024, and has a particular focus on achieving that goal in New York, Georgia and Minnesota. The program has directors in those three states to help design a campaign "playbook" to be used later in future elections in other states.