FairVote Blog
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Does BBC mean "Bow Before Cameron" on AV?
by , Rob Richie // April 25, 2011 //On May 5th, British voters will participate in their second-ever national referendum, deciding whether to replace plurality voting for House of Commons elections with the alternative vote (AV). The referendum outcome remains up in the air, but we already know two losers: prime minister David Cameron, who has shown he cannot be trusted, and the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), the famed news source.
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Parity law adopted in Tunisia
by Wael Abdel Hamid, Arab Spring Series // April 21, 2011 //After the political revolution that struck their country earlier this year, Tunisians are now experiencing a genuine revolution of the mind. In an earlier blog post, I worried about the length of time the Tunisian interim government was taking to implement key measures .However, recent developments have eased my fears considerably.
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Presidential Visits: Current Electoral College Rules Distort Attention
Wonder why you never get to see the President? One reason may be that you don't live in a swing state. We know that presidential candidates concentrate their general election time and resources in the few states that can make or break their election. But it turns out that it's not so different once they get elected; a disproportionate amount of time is spent in those same states. One solution to this problem would be the National Popular Vote plan for president.
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Voting: A Right, A Privilege, or A Responsibility?
by Dean Searcy, Right to Vote Blog // April 20, 2011 //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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Louisiana Redistricting: A Better Method
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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The Right to Vote: The case of the people of our nation's capital
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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Virginia Redistricting: Part II
by Matt Morris, Rob Richie // April 13, 2011 //The Virginia State legislature also must re-draw their district lines to reflect census data. See how many more voters would have competitive choice and fair representation with multi-member districts and proportional voting.
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Internet voting: If ever made secure, would it improve election turnout?
by Loqmane Jamil // April 19, 2011 //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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Local elections in France: Revealing rehearsal before 2012 presidential elections
by Wael Abdel Hamid // April 8, 2011 //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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New Jersey Redistricting: A Better Method
by Dean Searcy // April 11, 2011 //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