FairVote Blog
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FairVote's Unique Methodology Shows That 52% of Voters Wanted a Democratic House
by Devin McCarthy, Rob Richie // November 13, 2012 //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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FairVote's First Take on RCV Elections in Four Bay Area Cities
by Mollie Hailey, Rob Richie // November 12, 2012 //Ballots for Tuesday’s ranked choice voting (RCV) elections in four cities in the Bay Area are still being counted, but it is clear that RCV has again worked well. FairVote found that voters used the system effectively, election officials were smart to make it a true "instant runoff" and candidates of color again were elected in high numbers.
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France May Introduce a Little Bit of Proportional Representation to its Legislative Elections
by Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy // November 12, 2012 //Proportional representation may be coming to the French legislature--or at least 10% of it.
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Arizona Defeats Top Two Primary: What's Next for Reformers?
by Drew Spencer // November 9, 2012 //As the nation eagerly followed the incoming results of the Presidential election on Tuesday, we at FairVote also kept a keen eye on the results of a handful of electoral reform ballot measures, including Arizona's vote on Proposition 121, the Top Two primary law. We were concerned about the impact that this proposed form of Top Two might have in Arizona. But Prop 121's defeat became apparent early in the evening, with over two-thirds of Arizona voting against it.
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Gains for Women in Senate Help Make Our Case for Representation 2020
by Patricia Hart // November 8, 2012 //Refusing to sit idly by and let the boys have all the fun, women played a lead role in the 2012 presidential election as a key voting bloc. And as candidates, women etched their names into political history with a diverse field of contenders, winning several significant congressional races and achieving many firsts.
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From the Mouth of the President to the Ears of the People: We Have to Fix That
by Elizabeth Hudler // November 8, 2012 //As was expected, problems at the polls abounded on November 6, nationwide. While glitches were reported across the country, voter-rights watchers paid particular attention to the swing states, where obstacles to ballot access in the form of registration ambiguities, voting-day misinformation, voter suppression tactics, and long, exhausting (and cold!) lines had potential to lower turnout and affect outcomes. President Barack Obama in his acceptance speechTuesday night, thanked people for waiting in those lines --- and then added, “By the way, we have to fix that.”
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2012 Election Night Congressional Scorecard
by Devin McCarthy, Rob Richie // November 6, 2012 //Predict the winner of the national congressional vote on election night using district partisanship data from early returns!
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Stamp Out Democracy on the Cheap
by Patricia Hart // November 5, 2012 //One first class stamp: 45 cents. One extra ounce to ship: 20 cents. Voting in a democracy: priceless.
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Nine House Races to Watch (and Five You Don't Have To) on Election Night
by Devin McCarthy, Rob Richie // November 3, 2012 //These are the races that prominent election forecasters might get wrong by underestimating the importance of district partisanship in determining the outcome of congressional elections. See what FairVote's partisanship-based analysis predicts.
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2012 Presidential Election Night Scorecard
by Andrea Levien, Rob Richie // November 2, 2012 //Predict the winner of the national popular vote for president on election night using FairVote's measure of state partisanship!