Research Reports
61 - 70 of 123 results
-
International Snapshot: Palestine 2006
- Posted: February 1, 2006
- Author(s): Ryan Griffin and Jack Santucci
- Categories: Middle East and Africa, Research & Analysis, International Elections, FairVote, Elections Worldwide, All Reports
Palestine held elections to its Legislative Council on January 25, 2006. In that vote, Change and Reform (Hamas) took power away from the governing Fatah movement, winning 75 of 132 seats. Some commentators declared this a sweeping mandate for Hamas, speculating especially on what the power shift means for Israeli-Palestinian relations, but the election results are not an accurate reflection of popular opinion. Instead, the election system itself is at least as important as popular opinion in determining the makeup of the Council.
-
International Snapshot: Iraq 2005
- Posted: December 20, 2005
- Author(s): David Moon
- Categories: Middle East and Africa, Research & Analysis, International Elections, FairVote, All Reports
Iraq's December 2005 parliamentary elections were contested by 230 parties and 21 coalitions, all vying for seats in the first full-term, four-year parliament since the beginning of the 2003 war in Iraq. Authorities conducted the election using a new proportional voting system in which parties fielded candidates for parliament in each of Iraq’s 18 provinces under 18 different ballots using regional party lists. Additionally, the parliament consists of 275 seats, with 45 elected as "compensatory seats" to parties that did not win seats under the regional list elections but won enough votes nationally to cross the threshold for a seat at the national level.
-
International Snapshot: Japan 2005
- Posted: September 25, 2005
- Author(s): David Moon
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Asia and Oceania, International Elections, FairVote, Elections Worldwide, All Reports
The results of Japan’s September 2005 parliamentary elections have been held up by the Japanese media as demonstrating a stunning mandate for Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi, leader of the nation’s Liberal Democratic Party. FairVote’s analysis of the election results, however, indicates that this mandate was far from clear, with Koizumi’s party in fact winning just 38% of the popular vote. As our International Spotlight research series demonstrates, time and again, a nation’s choice of electoral system often has just as much impact on the election results, as candidate or party popularity and other factors.
-
Lost Votes in Vermont State Senate Elections
- Posted: September 1, 2001
- Author(s): Terry Bouricius
- Categories: Cumulative Voting, All Reports
The partisan makeup of the Vermont legislature is not in line with the partisan vote for state officers. Democrats are under-represented in both the House and Senate.
An analysis of withheld votes in the State Senate races in 2000, 1998, and 1996 reveals that the primary cause of this disproportionality is the tendency of Democratic voters to bullet vote, giving up some of their votes, and possibly splitting their ticket, at a far higher rate than Republican voters. We calculate that partial franchise bullet voting on average results in Vermont voters withholding over 14% of the votes they are entitled to cast in State Senate races.
-
Premier AccuVote Machines Missed 0.4% of Ballots in Aspen Elections
- Author(s): Terry Bouricius
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, Research & Analysis, FairVote, All Reports
-
Universal Voter Registration: The Massachusetts Health Care Model
- Categories: Universal Voter Registration, FairVote
FairVote explores the Massachusetts health-care model as a way to move toward universal voter registration in the U.S.
-
Arkansas Profile
Fact in focus: In 2008 every US House race in Arkansas was uncontested by a major party -- since 1982, 70% of incumbents have been "untouchable"
-
Arizona Profile
Fact in focus: In 2008 Arizona Democrats won 29% more House seats with only 1.6% more popular votes than Republicans
-
U.S. Profile
-
Uniformity in Election Administration: A 2008 Survey of Swing State County Clerks, Missouri Edition