Content Categorized with "Home"
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Why James Madison Wanted to Change the Way We Vote For President
- Posted: June 18, 2012
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy, Rob Richie
- Categories: Presidential Elections, National Popular Vote, Home
James Madison helped to create the Electoral College, but he never supported the way we vote for our presidents today. Find out what Madison would change about our current electoral system.
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Lessons Learned from Egypt's Presidential Runoff: The Case for Using an Instant Runoff Ballot
- Posted: June 15, 2012
- Author(s): Erin Ellis, Arab Spring Series
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, Middle East and Africa, Home, Elections Worldwide
On June 14, Egypt's high court disbanded the nation's parliament elected last winter, arguing that the candidates should have run without party affiliation. The ruling makes this weekend's presidential election all the more important, as the president will become the only national government leader who has been elected and will not have a parliament to check his decisions. This blog post analysis thus takes on even greater importance.
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Dispelling the Major Legal Arguments Against the National Popular Vote Compact
- Posted: June 11, 2012
- Author(s): Jessica Heller
- Categories: National Popular Vote, Home
Opponents of the National Popular Vote Compact have put forward various legal arguments against the NPVC, including that it violates several provisions of the U.S. Constitution as well as the Voting Rights Act. However, the NPVC is well within the constitutional and legal bounds of state power, and should withstand any legal challenges.
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The Constitutionality of the National Popular Vote: Refuting Challenges Based on Article II, Section One
- Posted: June 7, 2012
- Author(s): Elise Helgesen, Rob Richie
- Categories: National Popular Vote, Home
The National Popular Vote plan withstands major constitutional challenges raised by opponents. Particularly, when analyzed in light of McPherson v. Blacker, it is clear that NPV is valid under Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution.
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Texas' congressional elections near bottom in FairVote's Democracy Index
- Posted: June 1, 2012
- Author(s): Warren Hays, Lindsey Needham
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Home
This week's primaries in Texas represented the best chance for voters to affect their U.S. House representation prior to the November election. However, voters in most races did not have the chance to cast a meaningful ballot, as ten incumbents didn't face a primary challenger and all but one incumbent won by a landslide.
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Americans' View of Government Shaped by Student Government Experience
- Posted: June 1, 2012
- Author(s): Neema Ghavimi
- Categories: Learning Democracy, Home
Civics lessons students learn in schools have an impact on how they view government when they are older. Students' civics experiences or lack of experiences starting from elementary school all the way through college can shape the way they view our politics today. I'll use my own experience as an example.
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Does Florida's increasingly diverse Latino population have the last word on Decision 2012?
- Posted: June 1, 2012
- Author(s): Bethany Robinson
- Categories: Home
An examination of Florida's increasingly diverse Latino population and its effect on the 2012 election.
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The Failure of US Civics Education
- Posted: May 31, 2012
- Author(s): Kathy Pahel
- Categories: Learning Democracy, Home
Today, the United States falls short of its goal to create generation after generation of educated citizens to ensure the continuation of our democracy. Once the founding motivation for the creation of public schools, civics education has fallen into the shadows of math and science. It is taught in a passive learning environment, and lacks any development of critical thinking essential to the democratic process. Without a thorough revamping of our education system, civics education will continue to be sidelined and our democracy will suffer.
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The Chairman's Corner: FairVote reforms featured in Mann-Ornstein book
- Posted: May 31, 2012
- Author(s): Krist Novoselic
- Categories: FairVote Reformer E-Newsletters, Home
Krist Novoselic has been chairman of the board at FairVote since 2008. He first became politically active while playing bass for the band Nirvana in the early 1990s. Novoselic published his book "Of Grunge and Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy" in 2004 and joined the FairVote board in 2005. This is the first of The Chairman's Corner series.
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Democracy Demands Civic Education
- Posted: May 15, 2012
- Author(s): Kathy Pahel
- Categories: Learning Democracy, Home
Through at least 40 years of polling, the American public has claimed that the number-one purpose of the nation’s schools is “preparing people to become responsible citizens.” Civic education is a key factor in personal and social development, as well as essential to the democratic process, and the only institution that can provide opportunities to cultivate democratic experience-not for elite groups, but for all children and youth- is the school.