FairVote Blog
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Hanging by a Thread: Egyptian Democracy After the June 18 Coup
by Erin Ellis // June 25, 2012 //In the aftermath of a military "coup" staged on June 18, the future of Egyptian democracy looks precarious. In retrospect, the situation might have been prevented if Egypt had used proportional representation to elect its parliament in the first place.
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Mexico's Divisive Presidential Election System
by Warren Hays // June 19, 2012 //With Mexican voters set to go to the polls on July 1, the country's three-party system combined with its winner-take-all presidential elections create a recipe for popular discontent with no end in sight.
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Why James Madison Wanted to Change the Way We Vote For President
James Madison helped to create the Electoral College, but he never supported the way we vote for our presidents today. Find out what Madison would change about our current electoral system.
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Lessons Learned from Egypt's Presidential Runoff: The Case for Using an Instant Runoff Ballot
by Arab Spring Series, Erin Ellis // June 15, 2012 //On June 14, Egypt's high court disbanded the nation's parliament elected last winter, arguing that the candidates should have run without party affiliation. The ruling makes this weekend's presidential election all the more important, as the president will become the only national government leader who has been elected and will not have a parliament to check his decisions. This blog post analysis thus takes on even greater importance.
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Dispelling the Major Legal Arguments Against the National Popular Vote Compact
by Jessica Heller // June 11, 2012 //Opponents of the National Popular Vote Compact have put forward various legal arguments against the NPVC, including that it violates several provisions of the U.S. Constitution as well as the Voting Rights Act. However, the NPVC is well within the constitutional and legal bounds of state power, and should withstand any legal challenges.
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The Constitutionality of the National Popular Vote: Refuting Challenges Based on Article II, Section One
by Rob Richie, Elise Helgesen // June 7, 2012 //The National Popular Vote plan withstands major constitutional challenges raised by opponents. Particularly, when analyzed in light of McPherson v. Blacker, it is clear that NPV is valid under Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution.
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Romney Tracker: Swing states, fundraising states and who else?
by Jared Gay // June 6, 2012 //We are tracking Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama's public events throughout this campaign season to see what their travel behavior reveals about our voting rules. This post focuses on Mitt Romney's events since April 24, 2012.
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Texas' congressional elections near bottom in FairVote's Democracy Index
by Lindsey Needham, Warren Hays // June 1, 2012 //This week's primaries in Texas represented the best chance for voters to affect their U.S. House representation prior to the November election. However, voters in most races did not have the chance to cast a meaningful ballot, as ten incumbents didn't face a primary challenger and all but one incumbent won by a landslide.
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Americans' View of Government Shaped by Student Government Experience
by Neema Ghavimi // June 1, 2012 // 1 commentsCivics lessons students learn in schools have an impact on how they view government when they are older. Students' civics experiences or lack of experiences starting from elementary school all the way through college can shape the way they view our politics today. I'll use my own experience as an example.
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Does Florida’s increasingly diverse Latino population have the last word on Decision 2012?
by Bethany Robinson // June 1, 2012 //An examination of Florida's increasingly diverse Latino population and its effect on the 2012 election.