Content Categorized with "Fair Voting/Proportional Representation"
61 - 70 of 199 results
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A Representative Congress: Enhancing African American Voting Rights in the South with Choice Voting
- Posted: November 27, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Drew Spencer
- Categories: Reforms, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Home, Redistricting, Voting Rights, FairVote
In southern states, racially polarized elections remain an active part of political life. Since 1965, the Voting Rights Act has guaranteed that African Americans in the South cannot be shut out of elections either through direct barriers to voting or through discriminatory districts that prevent the achievement of representation. However, relying on winner-take-all elections has inherent limitations. In the belt of southern states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas, the use of districting to achieve a fairer level of representation for African Americans has hit a ceiling. To push through that ceiling and achieve truly fair representation, FairVote recommends abandoning the single-member district in favor of super districts elected by choice voting.
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The 2012 Elections and the Vanishing Congressional Moderate
- Posted: November 15, 2012
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home
Many observers of the American political process have bemoaned our increasingly partisan Congress, with representatives from both parties clinging to the party line and refusing to compromise with the other side. If you were hoping that the 2012 elections would help this problem, here's some bad news: things are only getting worse. The congressional moderate is on the verge of extinction.
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FairVote's Unique Methodology Shows That 52% of Voters Wanted a Democratic House
- Posted: November 13, 2012
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy, Rob Richie
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home
Using its unique methods for analyzing the underlying preferences of voters, FairVote has determined that the Republican Party has a significant structural advantage in U.S. House elections. That advantage was the most important reason why the GOP kept a comfortable majority of 54% of seats in the House despite Democratic candidates having an overall 4% advantage in voter preference over their Republican opponents.
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France May Introduce a Little Bit of Proportional Representation to its Legislative Elections
- Posted: November 12, 2012
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Europe, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, International Elections, Home
Proportional representation may be coming to the French legislature--or at least 10% of it.
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Major Media Gets it Wrong on Hong Kong Elections
- Posted: September 24, 2012
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Asia and Oceania, International Elections, Home, Elections Worldwide
Hong Kong's pro-democracy parties did not perform as well as expected in the September 9 Legislative Council elections. The New York Times would have you believe that the disappointing result can be blamed on Hong Kong's proportional representation system. But that explanation is misleading and distracts from the real problems of the city's electoral structure.
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Electing Lords: A Unique Opportunity for Electoral Reform in the British Upper House
- Posted: July 31, 2012
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Europe, Reforms, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, Elections Worldwide
A lordship, by its very definition, has historically not been an elected office. But there is a strong movement in the British House of Commons to transform the upper house of the British parliament, the House of Lords, into a largely elected body based on proportional representation. This reform is long overdue.
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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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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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Winner-Take-All. We Can Do Better.
- Posted: April 13, 2012
- Categories: National Popular Vote, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home
Winner-take-all elections box voters into simplistic red and blue divisions that poorly reflect our diversity of views. They turn most state legislative and congressional elections into "no-choice" contests. Only a handful of swing states will get attention from presidential candidates.
To take on winner-take-all, FairVote backs forms of proportional representation for electing legislatures and a national popular vote for president instead of state-based winner-take-all rules.* Most robust democracies use proportional representation, NOT winner-take-all. See more here.* FairVote Chair Emeritus John Anderson's new op-ed in Chicago Tribune on cumulative voting* FairVote's resources on a national popular vote for president -
No More Gerrymanders: Missouri's Partisan Plan versus the Fair Voting Alternative
- Posted: March 15, 2012
- Author(s): Lindsey Needham, Fair Voting Plans, Rob Richie, Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, Redistricting, Monopoly Politics 2012 Map
Lawmakers in Missouri have recently passed a congressional redistricting plan that gives Republican candidates a strong advantage in 6 of 8 seats and protects nearly all incumbents. There's a better way--fair voting systems in multi-seat "super-districts." Read the latest in our fair voting plan series.