Content Categorized with "FairVote"
81 - 90 of 1311 results
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Voting: A Right, A Privilege, or A Responsibility?
- Posted: April 20, 2011
- Author(s): Dean Searcy, Right to Vote Blog
- Categories: Right to Vote Amendment, Home, FairVote
When Americans talk about their democracy, they typically emphasize the importance of the right to vote. But the fact is that, unlike other democratic rights protected in the First Amendment, voting rights do not have clear constitutional protections. State legislatures have the right to appoint electors in presidential races without holding elections, for example, and states can enact a variety of policies that directly or indirectly infringe on suffrage rights. While strengthening voting rights in the Constitution would seem like a logical step, there's a potential political barrier: confusion about the meaning of "right."
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Internet voting: If ever made secure, would it improve election turnout?
- Posted: April 19, 2011
- Author(s): Loqmane Jamil
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Home, FairVote, Election Services Group
The phenomenon of low voter turnout is not new but has become worrisome by its recurrence. In the United States voters are turning out in smaller numbers each year in certain elections like primaries and choosing city leaders. With the advent of new technological means of communication be a means to fight against the disaffection toward politics so many Americans seem to feel? Some like internet voting, but it's not ready for governmental elections.
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Louisiana Redistricting: A Better Method
- Posted: April 18, 2011
- Author(s): , Super Districts, Rob Richie, Dean Searcy
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, FairVote
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is about to sign legislation establishing a redistricting plan that distorts partisan representation, breaks up natural communities, underrepresents racial minorities and creates largely noncompetitive races. Super districts with two three-member districts and a non-winner-take-all voting systemn would dramatically boost fair representation and give all voters competitive choice.
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Redistricting heats up - and FairVote shows better way
- Posted: April 14, 2011
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Home, FairVote
In all 50 states, elected officials at some level of government are feverishly engaged in the remarkable exercise of choosing their voters before their voters choose them. Nearly every U.S. House map and the great majority of state legislative maps will be redrawn by partisans, usually with the goal of protecting incumbents, helping friends and hurting political enemies.
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The Right to Vote: The case of the people of our nation's capital
- Posted: April 14, 2011
- Author(s): , Jo McKeegan, Right to Vote Blog
- Categories: D.C. Voting Rights, Right to Vote Amendment, Home, FairVote
Although the District has a delegate in the U.S. House (Eleanor Holmes Norton) who can propose legislation and serve on committee, she does not have voting rights in Congress. The District lacks even a delegate in the U.S. Senate, even though Congress can veto any bill passed by the District and often considers “riders’ on bills that would change laws governing the residents of the District – a classic case of “taxation without representation.”
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New Jersey Redistricting: A Better Method
- Posted: April 11, 2011
- Author(s): Dean Searcy
- Categories: Home, FairVote
States around the country are plunging into the famed "political thicket" of redistricting. States having to move the fastest are those like New Jersey that this year will hold state legislative elections in their new plan. With winner-take-all rules, the impact of how lines are drawn is enormously point - that's why FairVote suggests giving more power to voters and less power to mapmakers through adoption of forms of proportional voting. New Jersey's state legislative districts provide a good example.
New Jersey's Apportionment Commission is a bipartisan body which is responsible for appointing the state's 40 legislative districts following a census every ten years. Each state legislative district elects one state senator and two state assembly members. After the usual
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Local elections in France: Revealing rehearsal before 2012 presidential elections
- Posted: April 8, 2011
- Author(s): Wael Abdel Hamid
- Categories: Europe, Home, FairVote, Elections Worldwide
On March 20 and 27, French voters elected their local representatives. These representatives (general counselors) are chosen town-by-town, and gather by departments and elect their president to represent their fellow voters at the regional level. In other words, French local elections are a relatively minor step in the electoral calendar that will bring France to vote for its president in May 2012.
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"Arab Spring": Adoption of proportional representation key goal for reformers
- Posted: April 4, 2011
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, FairVote
The first months of 2011 will go down in history for the remarkable "Arab Spring" movement for democracy. Nonviolent protests by young men and women have led to a string of dictatorial regimes falling or are tottering, including Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen. Protests have been grounded in a basic drive for democracy and freedom, but as nations turn toward having their first truly democratic elections, the details of how to run fair elections are of immense importance.
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Arab Spring of Nations: what's next? -- Yemen: Troubles despite serious negotiations
- Posted: April 1, 2011
- Author(s): Wael Abdel Hamid, Arab Spring Series
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Middle East and Africa, Home, FairVote, Elections Worldwide
The Arab world is still in trouble. Revolutionary nations Tunisia and Egypt are struggling for a successful, peaceful and democratic transition. Other peoples, especially in Yemen, Jordan and Bahrain, are still fighting for change. In a blog series introduced on March 22 , I am focusing on what's going on in Arab countries at the center of change.
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Arab Spring of Nations: what's next? -- Tunisia: between hope and political instability
- Posted: March 25, 2011
- Author(s): Wael Abdel Hamid, Arab Spring Series
- Categories: Middle East and Africa, Home, FairVote, Elections Worldwide
The Arab world is still in trouble. Revolutionary nations Tunisia and Egypt are struggling for a successful, peaceful and democratic transition. Other peoples, especially in Yemen, Jordan and Bahrain, are still fighting for change. In a blog series introduced on March 22 , I am focusing on what's going on in Arab countries at the center of change.