FairVote Blog
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Portland's Biggest Winner: Democracy with Ranked Choice Voting
by Rob Richie, Dorothy Scheeline // November 16, 2011 //What shouldn’t be missed in the fray of post-election coverage in Maine is the glorious five minutes of pure democratic spirit that everyone experienced when the round-by-results results of the first ranked choice voting election for Portland's mayor were presented before everyone's eyes. In what other instance would you have every single candidate in the race, their supporters, the media, community members that were just curious, all in one room, waiting to hear the results? For those five minutes, there wasn't any politicking, just democracy in action.
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Cambridge, Massachusetts Election Results — November 2011
by Elise Helgesen // November 10, 2011 //FairVote often writes about ranked choice voting elections as they happen – indeed six cities voted with a ranked ballot this week. However, the history of choice voting in Cambridge, Massachusetts tells the tale of an American city that has successfully used this form of proportional voting to elect its city council and school committee officials for decades. Here are the recent election results for the city council and school committee races.
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Portland Mayoral Election: One-Day Survey Results
by Dorothy Scheeline // November 7, 2011 //FairVote conducted a one-day survey of 122 early voters on Thursday, November 3 participating in Portland's first mayoral election in nearly a century. The survey reveals that Portland voters find their new ranked choice ballot easy to use and have experienced a mayoral campaign that has promoted civic engagement.
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Remember Young People in Maryland's April Primary
by Tyler Sadonis // March 7, 2012 //17-year-old primary voting is a great way to start getting young people involved in the political process. Unfortunately, many election and party officials do not promote it.
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Tunisians Hold Arab Spring's First Vote
by Hüseyin Koyuncu, Arab Spring Series // November 4, 2011 //The election is seen as a democratic success for new Tunisia, with some 4.1 million registered voters voting to select the members of the Constituent Assembly – using a method of proportional representation that ensured nearly every participant elected someone, and no one faction earned the winner-take-all power to dominate other factions. Tunisians have fulfilled their duty peacefully and with great pride, whether in the capital or in provincial towns. European Union observers saluted the election’s “transparency.” Clearly, the strong desire of Tunisians to be governed by democratically elected authorities guided the electoral process.
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Was the Iowa Caucuses' Real Winner Not in the Race?
by Rob Richie // January 4, 2012 //Last night, as the numbers rolled in from Iowa, cable news shows pundits analyzed the numbers in almost every way humanly possible – with particular obsession with who was going to “win.” But the media just may have missed the biggest winner: a candidate who wasn’t seeking Iowa votes last night.
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The Ongoing Problem of Low Voter Turnout: Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia
by Christina Grier // November 10, 2011 //Tuesday November 8 was Election Day in Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia. Despite holding elections for both houses of the state legislature in New Jersey, Mississippi and Virginia and gubernatorial races in Kentucky and Mississippi, voter turnout was low, continuing the nation-wide pattern that was seen in other states who have held elections already this fall.
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Innovative Analysis in 2011: Seven Top Election Insights from the FairVote Blog
by Rob Richie // December 29, 2011 //Reviewing all 121 entries posted on the FairVote.org blog this year was a reminder about how busy we've been -- and how insightful FairVote staff, colleagues and interns so often are. In this blog I zeroed in on seven insights you may have missed., with excerpts from seven important blogposts.
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Why Settle? A Review of the Conference on "Creating the Voting Rights Act of 2012"
by Christina Grier // November 8, 2011 //The electoral reform organization Why Tuesday? held a conference on November 7 to address existing voting barriers, and offered solutions on how to fix an electoral system that is still functioning under 20th century guidelines. Panelists presented information on issues such as restrictive voter ID laws, voter fraud, and ways to modernize the registration process.
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Irish presidential election with instant runoff voting: Voter choice without "spoilers"
by Rob Richie // November 6, 2011 //Our political leaders are again rolling the dice with the American people. Rather than pursue statutory solutions to potential electoral landmines, they've left intact a set of electoral rules that aren’t designed for elections where voters have more than two choices. Ireland last month showcased a better way in its elections. As with all other well-established democracies with presidential elections, Ireland elects its president based on a national popular vote. It uses instant runoff voting to uphold the goal of majority rule.