Research Reports
31 - 40 of 123 results
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Spotlighting a Best Practice
- Posted: July 22, 2010
- Author(s): Rebecca Guterman
FairVote Summer intern Rebecca Guterman interviewed Tim Hwang, Student Member of the Board of Education in Montgomery County, MD, to hightlight a practice that helps both the student representative and the rest of the student population gain experience in voting and representative government.
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Redistricting Reform in the States: June 2010
- Posted: June 24, 2010
- Author(s): Billy Organek, Patrick Withers
- Categories: Reforms, Research & Analysis, All Reports
FairVote's most recent review of redistricting reform in the states in 2009-2010 presents a mix of optimism and frustration for supporters of redistricting in the public interest rather than in the best interest of the political duopoly.
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Majority and Plurality in U.S. Gubernatorial Elections
- Posted: April 9, 2010
- Author(s): Neal Suidan, Daniel Weaver
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, National Popular Vote, Research & Analysis, Home, All Reports
From 1948 to 2009, 90.4 percent of all gubernatorial general elections nationwide were won with greater than 50 percent of the popular vote. None were won with less than 35 percent of all votes cast. Fifteen states elected all of their governors with a majority of votes cast. Among the other states, Maine had the most plurality-elected governors, with 7 of their 19 races in this span.
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Ranked Voting and Questions About Election Integrity
- Posted: January 1, 2010
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, Research & Analysis, FairVote, All Reports
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International Snapshot: Japan 2009
- Posted: November 24, 2009
- Author(s): Pauline Lejeune, Rob Richie
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Asia and Oceania, International Elections, FairVote, All Reports
The Japanese parliamentary elections in August 30, 2009 marked a turning point in Japan’s political history. Since 1955, Japan has been dominated by one party, with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as the governing party for all but 11 months. But in these elections the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) defeated the LDP, winning 308 seats to 109 for the LDP in the 480-seat House of Representatives.
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Get 'Em (Ready to Vote) While They're Young
- Posted: May 26, 2009
- Author(s): Paul Fidalgo, David Segal
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Universal Voter Registration, FairVote, All Reports
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.
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Universal Voter Registration: An International Perspective
- Posted: April 21, 2009
- Author(s): Eve Robert
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Universal Voter Registration, International Elections, FairVote, All Reports
The United States is one of the few democracies in the world where the government does not take any responsibility in registering its citizens. This one-of-a-kind, self-initiated voter registration process acts as a major barrier to voter turnout and leads to often inaccurate voter rolls.
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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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Uniformity in Election Administration: A 2008 Survey of Swing State County Clerks--National Edition
- Posted: October 27, 2008
- Author(s): Adam Fogel, Allison McNeely
- Categories: FairVote
The Democracy SOS Project is aimed to increase transparency in election administration and monitor actions of election officials, starting with Secretaries of State. The following reports are a compilation of the results of surveying county clerks in 10 "swing states" during the 2008 Presidential Election. FairVote staff and interns surveyed nearly every county clerk in Missouri, New Mexico, Colorado and Pennsylvania, as well as election officials in counties with at least 500,000 residents in Ohio, Florida, Minnesota, Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin. We asked questions designed to shed light on the practices of the county, as well as their interpretation and compliance with state law. -
Uniformity in Election Administration: A 2008 Survey of Swing State County Clerks--Virginia Edition
- Posted: October 20, 2008
- Author(s): Adam Fogel, Allison McNeely
- Categories: FairVote
The Democracy SOS Project aims to increase transparency in election administration and to monitor the actions of election officials, starting with Secretaries of State. This series reports the results of surveys of county clerks in 10 "swing states" during the 2008 presidential election. FairVote staff and interns surveyed nearly every county clerk in Missouri, New Mexico, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as election officials in counties with at least 500,000 residents in Ohio, Florida, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin.