Content Categorized with "Redistricting"
11 - 20 of 35 results
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A Representative Congress: Enhancing African American Voting Rights in the South with Choice Voting
- Posted: November 27, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Drew Spencer
- Categories: Reforms, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Home, Redistricting, Voting Rights, FairVote
In southern states, racially polarized elections remain an active part of political life. Since 1965, the Voting Rights Act has guaranteed that African Americans in the South cannot be shut out of elections either through direct barriers to voting or through discriminatory districts that prevent the achievement of representation. However, relying on winner-take-all elections has inherent limitations. In the belt of southern states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas, the use of districting to achieve a fairer level of representation for African Americans has hit a ceiling. To push through that ceiling and achieve truly fair representation, FairVote recommends abandoning the single-member district in favor of super districts elected by choice voting.
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Monopoly Politics 2012
- Posted: October 12, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Research & Analysis, Redistricting
FairVote has issued its new Monopoly Politics 2012 report on U.S. House elections. The report demonstrates the growing partisan rigidity of voters in U.S. House elections with a detailed state-by-state, district-by-district review of this year's congressional races and the 2010 elections. It includes information on the presidential election results in every 2012 district, how each district's partisanship has changed since 2010 and the likely outcome of the Congressional elections next month.
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Texas Congressional Redistricting: Beyond Last Week's Section 5 Ruling
- Posted: September 7, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Drew Spencer
- Categories: Home, Redistricting, Voting Rights
Texas has had problems with redistricting - yet again. Last week's federal court ruling that Texas's 2011 plans for congressional districts and state legislative districts had both the purpose and effect of further reducing the representation of Texas's already underrepresented racial minority populations is just the state's latest salvo in the redistricting wars. We show that there's another way: fair voting plans.
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U.S. House Elections as They Are and Will Be
- Posted: July 23, 2012
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Research & Analysis, Home, Redistricting
FairVote has released two new reports about congressional elections and an interactive map that summarizes their findings. Monopoly Politics 2012 provides the partisan landscape for all 435 U.S. House districts, with data on recent elections and how redistricting will affect partisan outcomes and racial fairness in 2012. Fair Voting 2012 shows how American forms of proportional representation could work in every state with more than one House district.
Our reports come with insightful analysis about partisan outcomes, competitiveness, southern politics and more.
- FairVotingUS.Com: FairVote's interactive map that presents reports
- Fair Voting 2012: State profiles and analysis about fair voting plans
- Monopoly Politics 2012: State profiles and analysis about 2012 House elections
- Dedication of reports to William Raspberry and Lindsey Needham
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Primaries Spotlight Sharp Decline in U.S. House Moderates
- Posted: May 8, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Research & Analysis, Home, Cumulative Voting, Redistricting
On April 24, two moderate Blue Dog Democrats, Tim Holden and Jason Altmire, lost in Pennsylvania's primary election. They are the latest examples of an accelerating "no-more-moderates" trend within both major parties. But fair representation of the left, right and center is essential to the health of a democracy. Grounded in its unique the-rules-matter perspective, FairVote explores how winner-take-all voting rules today disadvantage candidates willing to seek bipartisan solutions to problems.
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Congressional Redistricting Matters, and It's Hurting This Country: a Response to Michael Barone
- Posted: March 22, 2012
- Author(s): Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Congressional Elections, Home, Cumulative Voting, Redistricting
Recently, pundit Michael Barone argued in The National Review that redistricting in 2011 has turned out to “matter less than we thought.” But Barone is mistaken, overly concerned about redistricting’s impact on each major party rather its effect on voters already trapped within a troubling winner-take-all framework. Furthermore, Barone is wrong to say that partisan redistricting in 2011 has produced “clean” lines. It has not. With our unique take on redistricting and focus on voters, not political parties, FairVote sets the record straight in its rebuttle to Barone.
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No More Gerrymanders: Missouri's Partisan Plan versus the Fair Voting Alternative
- Posted: March 15, 2012
- Author(s): Lindsey Needham, Fair Voting Plans, Rob Richie, Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, Redistricting, Monopoly Politics 2012 Map
Lawmakers in Missouri have recently passed a congressional redistricting plan that gives Republican candidates a strong advantage in 6 of 8 seats and protects nearly all incumbents. There's a better way--fair voting systems in multi-seat "super-districts." Read the latest in our fair voting plan series.
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Happy 200th Birthday to the "Gerry-mander"
- Posted: February 17, 2012
- Author(s): Tyler Sadonis
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, Redistricting, FairVote
Saturday February 11, 2012 marked the 200th birthday of the "Gerry-mander." With 2012 redistricting plans taking shape, gerrymandering continues to be prevalent. FairVote advocates for an alternative reform to fundamentally change the way we draw district boundaries.
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Texas Redistricting in the Hands of the Supreme Court Yet Again
- Posted: January 9, 2012
- Author(s): Lindsey Needham
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, Redistricting
Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for three cases pertaining to Texas redistricting. In recent decades, Texas has been unable to pass a congressional redistricting plan with paying a visit to the high court. With a redistricting process that forces partisan interests to battle racial minority communities for power over a district's single seat, there is little surprise regarding these recurring controversies.
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No More Gerrymanders: Congressional Representation in the Seven At-Large States
- Posted: January 3, 2012
- Author(s): Fair Voting Plans, Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Home, Redistricting, Monopoly Politics 2012 Map, All Reports
Though spared the controversies of congressional redistricting, winner-take-all rules still plague the seven at-large states (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming). Nowhere are the shortcomings of our voting system more acute than in at-large winner-take-all races, where one individual is - rather astonishingly - responsible for representing the political and demographic diversity of an entire state. Read our latest critique of winner-take-all elections and our analysis of congressional elections in these at-large states.