Content Categorized with "Redistricting"
1 - 10 of 35 results
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The Paradox of Fairness and Competition in Virginia Redistricting
- Posted: October 16, 2015
- Author(s): Drew Spencer
- Categories: Home, Redistricting
The most recent scuffle over congressional redistricting in Virginia illustrates how poor a job single-winner districts do at achieving meaningful elections with fair results. With single-winner districts, we get results that may or may not be fair, may or may not be competitive, and result in a paradox under which they cannot be both fair and competitive. -
Comparative Structural Reform
- Posted: August 31, 2015
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, National Popular Vote, Presidential Elections, Reforms, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Research & Analysis, Home, Redistricting, Voter Turnout, All Reports, Districts Plus
Comparative Structural Reform presents an extensive assessment of the potential impact of 37 structural reforms to election laws and legislative structures in collaboration with 14 prominent political scholars. Scholars participating in the project are authorities on electoral reform and legislative functionality, with extensive collective expertise and mastery of both quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of American legislatures, elections and electoral rules. Each of the participating scholars was asked to assess each reform’s impact on 16 different criteria fitting within four topline categories: legislative functionality, electoral accountability, voter engagement, and openness of process. Scholars were compensated for their participation. All scholars responded to all eleven surveys and provided a wealth of insightful comments, new sources, and useful information in addition to their well-considered ratings of each reform.
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FairVote Proposes Solutions to Florida's Congressional Redistricting Dilemma in 2014
- Posted: August 8, 2014
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy , Rob Richie
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Research & Analysis, Home, Redistricting, Voting Rights
Florida is facing an electoral quandary as two of its congressional districts have been found to violate the state constitution, and the legislature is redrawing the maps as November elections loom. The legislature does not want to use the new map in 2014, but FairVote's analysis outlines two plans that could resolve the crisis. The better of these plans would also improve the representation of Florida voters in the process.
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Louisiana's New Voter Pre-Registration Law Features Automatic Registration
- Posted: July 11, 2014
- Author(s): Rebecca Hellmich, Rebecca Hellmich
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Redistricting, FairVote, Voter Turnout, Voter Preregistration
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal in May signed a law establishing voting pre-registration for 16-year-olds. The law features an innovative "opt-out" approach to voter registration that will further boost registration and participation. Louisiana has a history of such innovative election policy. -
Redistricting Reform in the South
- Posted: February 21, 2014
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy , Christopher Zieja
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, Redistricting
Nowhere in the United States are the pernicious effects of gerrymandering and winner-take-all, single-member districts more clearly visible than in the South. In the line of states running from Louisiana to Virginia, congressional races are nearly universally uncompetitive, Democrats are systematically disadvantaged, and African Americans are underrepresented in spite of the Voting Rights Act.
Through the use of sample maps, this report examines the impact that different redistricting criteria would have on partisan and racial representation in the South.
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Did the California Citizens Redistricting Commission Really Create More Competitive Districts?
- Posted: November 26, 2013
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, Redistricting
California's independent redistricting process ousted a lot of incumbents in 2012, but that competitiveness is unlikely to persist in 2014.
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Our South Carolina Independent Redistricting Plan Exposes the Problem of Winner-Take-All
- Posted: July 26, 2013
- Author(s): Robert Fekete
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Redistricting, FairVote
Independent redistricting only makes marginal improvements to South Carolina's uncompetitive and distorted congressional elections. Fair representation voting is a better solution.
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FairVote Testimony on Independent Redistricting in Maryland
- Posted: March 11, 2013
- Categories: Redistricting
On March 11, 2013, legal fellow Drew Spencer and research fellow Devin McCarthy testified before the Maryland House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee on HB 233, which would establish a Study Commission on the Redistricting Process in Maryland.
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California and the Limits of Independent Redistricting Commissions with Winner-Take-All
- Posted: February 15, 2013
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy, Rob Richie
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Home, Redistricting
Independent redistricting continues to gain attention as the panacea for American congressional elections. But as the independent redistricting's performance in California shows, on its own it cannot resolve the most serious problems with our congressional elections. We need to combine independent redistricting with adoption of fair voting plans.
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It's Not Just Gerrymandering: Fixing House Elections Demands End of Winner-Take-All Rules
- Posted: December 16, 2012
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy, Rob Richie
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Home, Redistricting
This year's elections put a spotlight on the troubled nature of how we elect the House of Representatives, the alleged "people's house." But some of our smartest election experts don't seem to understand the root of the problems with House elections.