Content Tagged with "Disenfranchisement"
1 - 10 of 37 results
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Virginia Primary Turnout Up - But Still Low Despite National Profile
- Posted: June 10, 2009
- Categories: FairVote
Turnout in Tuesday's fiercely fought Democratic gubernatorial primary was only 6.3% of registered voters and about 5.5% of eligible voters. Despite big spending, media attention and the ability for voters of all political stripes to participate (due to Virginia's "semi-open" primary system), an overwhelming majority of active Democrats did not participate in their party's nomination for governor.
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Virginia Primary Winner May Not Have Majority Support Among State Dems
- Posted: June 5, 2009
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, FairVote
This Tuesday, June 9th, Virginia Democrats will hold a primary to nominate the candidate for governor that they hope will best reflect the will of the state party's voters. But with three strong candidates essentially tied in the polls, no candidate may come close to winning a majority. The instant runoff system backed by President Barack Obama and used on May 9th in Charlottesville in its "firehouse primary" would better determine which candidate best represents the will of Virginia Democrats.
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NJ Gubernatorial Primary Turnout Lowest in Years
- Posted: June 3, 2009
- Categories: FairVote
Voter turnout dropped to a shockingly low 10% of registered voters and less than 9% of eligible voters for New Jersey's gubernatorial primaries on Tuesday. Previous gubernatorial primary contests in 2001 and 2005 had already languished at 12% and 13% of registered voters, respectively, and Tuesday more than nine in ten eligible voters did not participate.
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Get 'Em (Ready to Vote) While They're Young
- Posted: May 26, 2009
- Categories: Universal Voter Registration, FairVote
As a key element in what is welcome progress toward universal voter registration, a movement is growing within the states to swing the doors of our democracy wide open, encouraging and facilitating the active participation of young people in the electoral process. From education, to access, to advance registration, more and more legislators and public officials are doing their part to invite young people into the process and kick start habits that can last a lifetime.
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Good Things Come to Those Who Rank
- Posted: May 14, 2009
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, FairVote
Instant runoff voting is a ranked choice voting system that allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. Recommended by Robert's Rules of Order and used in a rapidly growing number of elections here and abroad, it represents a major improvement over the usual plurality-based and two-round systems of voting. It protects majority rule, eliminates the need for costly extra elections and all but eradicates the potential chaos of "spoiler" candidacies. But beyond its clearly established benefits, we are seeing anecdotal evidence that suggests that IRV has a positive effect on the influence of big money on elections, and mitigating the temptation for campaigns to "go negative."
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Never turn away a voter
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Never turn away a voter
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Michael Steele's RNC Win Helps Show how Instant Runoff Voting Works: Ranked voting methods abound in America culture
- Posted: February 5, 2009
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, FairVote
Advocates of ranked choice voting methods like instant runoff voting and the choice voting method of proportional representation often confront claims that their proposals are “exotic”, even “un-American.”
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2008's Shrinking Battleground and Its Stark Impact on Campaign Activity
- Posted: December 4, 2008
- Categories: National Popular Vote, FairVote
Both major party candidates in the 2008 presidential election made an ambitious promise upon effectively securing their party’s nominations —to wage nationwide campaigns and reach out to as many voters in as many states as possible. But the candidate's good intentions were undercut by the political reality created by the current Electoral College system and states’ use of the winner-take-all rule. Under that winner-take-all rule, candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize or pay attention to the concerns of states where they are comfortably ahead or hopelessly behind.
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Lawyers eye Missouri on Tuesday
- Posted: October 30, 2008
- Author(s): Dave Helling
- Publication: Kansas City Star
- Categories: Democracy SOS Project, FairVote
This Kansas City Star article cites FairVote's Democracy SoS report on Missouri election administration and preparedness.