Content Categorized with "Congressional Elections"
51 - 59 of 59 results
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Todd Akin and Non-Majority Rule
- Posted: August 24, 2012
- Author(s): Patricia Hart
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, Congressional Elections, Home
Having just completed his 6th term in the U.S. House, Republican Todd Akin is widely known as Missouri's controversial Senate candidate. As the media scorns his comments about rape and pregnancy, many wonder how Akin came to office in the first place, which presents an opportunity to step back and examine the system that put him in power. What have we got here? A case of plurality voting and the unrepresentative legislator.
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U.S. House Elections as They Are and Will Be
- Posted: July 23, 2012
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Research & Analysis, Home, Redistricting
FairVote has released two new reports about congressional elections and an interactive map that summarizes their findings. Monopoly Politics 2012 provides the partisan landscape for all 435 U.S. House districts, with data on recent elections and how redistricting will affect partisan outcomes and racial fairness in 2012. Fair Voting 2012 shows how American forms of proportional representation could work in every state with more than one House district.
Our reports come with insightful analysis about partisan outcomes, competitiveness, southern politics and more.
- FairVotingUS.Com: FairVote's interactive map that presents reports
- Fair Voting 2012: State profiles and analysis about fair voting plans
- Monopoly Politics 2012: State profiles and analysis about 2012 House elections
- Dedication of reports to William Raspberry and Lindsey Needham
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Top Two in California Primaries, June 2012: By the Numbers
- Posted: June 13, 2012
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, Congressional Elections
On June 5, California held its first "top two" primary in races for Congress and state legislature. All candidates competed against one another. Voters cast one vote, and the top two finishers advanced. FairVote today released an analysis of the primaries based on a series of disturbing numbers.
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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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Look to Election Rules to Reverse Decline of Political Center
- Posted: May 11, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, Reforms, Congressional Elections, Research & Analysis, Home, FairVote
U.S. Senators Dick Lugar (R-IN), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Kent Conrad (R-ND) share a history of bipartisan policymaking -- and the reality that they are leaving Congress. With its "the-rules-matter" perspective, FairVote explores the way in which our winner-take-all voting system disadvantages centrist candidates and discourages bipartisanship.
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Primaries Spotlight Sharp Decline in U.S. House Moderates
- Posted: May 8, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Research & Analysis, Home, Cumulative Voting, Redistricting
On April 24, two moderate Blue Dog Democrats, Tim Holden and Jason Altmire, lost in Pennsylvania's primary election. They are the latest examples of an accelerating "no-more-moderates" trend within both major parties. But fair representation of the left, right and center is essential to the health of a democracy. Grounded in its unique the-rules-matter perspective, FairVote explores how winner-take-all voting rules today disadvantage candidates willing to seek bipartisan solutions to problems.
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Snowe-ball Effect: How the Loss of Yet another Congressional Moderate Makes the Case for Election Reform
- Posted: April 25, 2012
- Author(s): Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, Reforms, Congressional Elections, Research & Analysis, Home
The stunning decision by Olympia Snowe to retire is just the latest example in an alarming series of setbacks for the political center, which is vital to a functioning democracy. What is clear, is that we are living through a period of severe polarization and partisanship, which has had adverse effects on the ranks of moderate politicians. FairVote's unique analysis connects the political center's travails to our damaging winner-take-all election rules and discusses the way in which alternative voting systems could boost moderates like Snowe.
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Congressional Redistricting Matters, and It's Hurting This Country: a Response to Michael Barone
- Posted: March 22, 2012
- Author(s): Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Home, Cumulative Voting, Redistricting
Recently, pundit Michael Barone argued in The National Review that redistricting in 2011 has turned out to “matter less than we thought.” But Barone is mistaken, overly concerned about redistricting’s impact on each major party rather its effect on voters already trapped within a troubling winner-take-all framework. Furthermore, Barone is wrong to say that partisan redistricting in 2011 has produced “clean” lines. It has not. With our unique take on redistricting and focus on voters, not political parties, FairVote sets the record straight in its rebuttle to Barone.
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FairVote Report Highlights 'Dubious' Elections in Illinois