FairVote Blog
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Who Needs to Fix That? We Do.
by Elizabeth Hudler // January 7, 2013 //When President Barack Obama paused in his victory speech, thanking voters for waiting in long lines to vote but noting 'we have to fix that', one might have assumed that reform would come from the top.
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Everything You Need to Know About Israeli Elections Before Election Day
by Devin McCarthy // January 4, 2013 //Understanding the Israeli electoral process is not easy when coming from an American perspective, because Israeli elections are nothing like American elections. The election that will be held in Israel on January 22 will be different from the 2012 elections in the U.S. in almost every conceivable sense.
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South Korea Elects Its First Female President
by Patricia Hart // December 29, 2012 //Women world leaders enhanced their numbers this month, as Park Geun-Hye of South Korea joined the current 13 female presidents and premiers on Wednesday, Dec. 19. Park was elected directly with 51.66 percent of the vote, while her party, the New Frontier Party (NFP), took 152 of the 299 seats in the National Assembly.
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Statewide Recounts Remain Scarce: Zero in 2012
by Mollie Hailey // December 21, 2012 //There were no recounts out of more than 400 statewide elections in 2012. FairVote's research of all statewide general elections from 2000 to 2012 underscores how rarely such recounts take place and how little they affect victory margins. Post-election audits are a better way to uncover the kind of major fraud or error that might actually change an election outcome.
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When Barack Obama Was a Leader in Seeking Fair Voting Systems
by Rob Richie, Drew Spencer // December 20, 2012 //President Barack Obama has a lot on his mind these days, but the state of our democracy remains critical. Fortunately, judging by Obama's record in the Illinois Senate --where he was the prime sponsor of legislation to advance cumulative voting and instant runoff voting - we haven't had a president as informed about good ideas for taking on electoral reform since James Madison and the founding generation.
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Not Helping America Vote: The Plight of the Un-filled Election Assistance Commission
by Elizabeth Hudler, Rob Richie // February 26, 2013 //Creating an active EAC is a simple positive step – and one that happens to be the law. Reform should be about systemic, enduring solutions, not just shorter lines. #wehavetofixthat
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It's Not Just Gerrymandering: Fixing House Elections Demands End of Winner-Take-All Rules
by Devin McCarthy, Rob Richie // December 16, 2012 //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.
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New Commitment to Our Most Basic Right
by Mollie Hailey // December 13, 2012 //Attorney General Holder has observed that, “too many citizens have reason to fear that their right to vote, their access to the ballot – and their ability to have their votes counted – is under threat.” Through reform of the systemic problems that plague our electoral process, we can combat this threat. We will ultimately need to think and act nationally; but now is the time for all of us to get involved in that effort in our cities and states.
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Electoral College Chaos: How Republicans Could Put a Lock on the Presidency
by Rob Richie // December 13, 2012 //Our current Electoral College rules allow for partisan manipulation of outcomes. FairVote's director Rob Richie explains how if Republicans in 2011 had abused their monopoly control of state government in several key swing states and passed new laws for allocating electoral votes, the exact same votes cast in the exact same way in the 2012 election would have converted Barack Obama's advantage of nearly five million popular votes and 126 electoral votes into a resounding Electoral College defeat.
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FairVote Chair Krist Novoselic on Democracy and Proportional Representation
by Drew Spencer // December 12, 2012 //Those in New York City were recently excited to learn that Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl of Nirvana will be reuniting to play at the 12/12/12 benefit concert for those affected by Hurricane Sandy, with Paul McCartney joining them in the role formerly filled by Kurt Cobain. A smaller number may be aware of the critical role Krist Novoselic has played in fighting for reforms to improve American democracy.