FairVote Blog
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Iowa's Laudable Redistricting Process - and the Super District Alternative
by Super Districts, Jais Mehaji // June 27, 2011 //Iowa quite justifiably has earned much praise for its redistricting process, a largely independent one driven by criteria that doesn’t include protection of incumbents or partisan gain. Nevertheless, a review of its elections and this year’s debate about redistricting still highlight the value of forms of proportional voting in a “super district” that puts voters in control of their representation rather than those drawing winner-take-all election lines, however independently those lines may be drawn.
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FairVote's Redistricting Resources
by Joe Sroka // June 27, 2011 //With the completion of the 2010 Census, state legislatures are now in the process of the decennial redrawing of congressional, state, and local electoral districts. The process of creating new boundary lines is highly partisan and often comes at the expense of voters. By gerrymandering districts, legislators and their political allies use redistricting to choose their voters instead of giving voters the opportunity to choose them. FairVote provides a number of resources and reports about the redistricting process, and potential improvements to the current system.
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Top Two Primaries: The Right to Write In in California
by Melanie Kiser // June 30, 2011 //Last August FairVote argued that California's new Top Two "Open" Primaries system would be improved by ending its ban on counting write-in votes in the general election, as included in the legislature's implementing statute. The provision is now the subject of litigation.
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Debate Exclusion Harms Voters
by Will Hix // June 23, 2011 //The election of capable candidates is arguably the most direct impact that the citizenry can have in this process. Voters rely on the media to create accurate portrayals of each candidate and present a fair opportunity for credible candidates to make their case to their constituents. CNN failed to provide voters the opportunity to evaluate Governor Johnson, instead relying on opinion polls of dubious importance.
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What Turkey's Elections Revealed
by Jais Mehaji // June 20, 2011 //On June 12, Turkey held national elections of great significance. Turkey is a potential new member of the European Union (EU) and often cited as a model for Egypt in its moves toward democracy while balancing elections, a large Islamic population and a strong, largely secular military. The election showed both Turkey’s promise and problematic features that nations like Egypt should avoid.
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The Corollary to Moroccan Exceptionalism
by Jais Mehaji, Arab Spring Series // June 21, 2011 //The Arab Spring movement continues to have an impact on nations across the Arab world. Now this remarkable time of change has touched Morocco, the region’s oldest monarchy. In a televised speech on June 18, King Mohammed VI once again set the kingdom apart from the rest of the region by announcing sweeping constitutional reforms whereby he would relinquish some of his powers, empowering a hitherto moribund parliamentary system and granting the prime minister more executive powers. As a citizen of Morocco and backer of the 47-year-old monarch’s reform proposals, I see them as a bold and shrewd move that underscores his commitment to Morocco’s democratization and meaningful transition to a constitutional monarchy.
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AMPAS Modifies Best Picture Nomination Method, Maintains Proportional Voting Principles
by Oscar Votes 123 // June 16, 2011 //The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a long history of using innovative voting methods to select the nominees and winners of its annual Academy Award "Oscars". This month it announced changes in the way nominations for the sought-after Best Picture award will be determined. The Academy announced that, beginning next year, a modified system similar to choice voting will be used to select Best Picture nominees, with choice voting continued to be used to select five nominees in most other categories. It also announced that ranked choice voting (RCV, or "instant runoff voting" or "preferential voitng") willl continue to be used for the final vote for Best Picture.
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What if the Right to Vote Started at Birth?
by Nate Crippes // June 17, 2011 //Journalist Jonathan Bernstein has raised an interesting question: at what age should we be allowed to begin voting? More specifically, should citizens be given the right to vote at birth, with our parents voting for us before we're capable (Bernstein suggests the ripe old age of 15 for voting on one's own)? It's certainly an interesting theory. FairVote is not endorsing such a position, but we do think it would be interesting to look at both sides of the issue, grounded in the fact that if we treat voting as a right, we should only limit rights for very good reasons.
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Major Legal Victory for Ranked Choice Voting — and Reform
by Lesley Delaney Hawkins, Rob Richie // June 17, 2011 //On May 20th, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower federal court ruling rejecting a legal challenge to the City of San Francisco's use of ranked choice voting (RCV, also known as instant runoff voting, or IRV). The three-judge panel emphatically dismissed the plaintiffs' arguments, including a particularly clear rejection of the claim that RCV violates the principles of one-person, one-vote or equal protection under the law.
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Egypt Inching its way down to Democracy
by Jais Mehaji, Arab Spring Series // June 16, 2011 //Although the Arab Spring movement started in Tunisia, as I discussed earlier this week, the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt was the year’s most stunning development. As the most influential and populous nation in the Arab world, Egypt, both in times of war and peace, has often played a leadership role in the region. The political changes happening in Egypt will certainly reverberate strongly in the region. Now it is turning to the even-harder task of establishing an enduring democracy, which if successful, will set a standard for its neighbors.