FairVote Blog
-
Gains for Women in Senate Help Make Our Case for Representation 2020
by Patricia Hart // November 8, 2012 //Refusing to sit idly by and let the boys have all the fun, women played a lead role in the 2012 presidential election as a key voting bloc. And as candidates, women etched their names into political history with a diverse field of contenders, winning several significant congressional races and achieving many firsts.
-
From the Mouth of the President to the Ears of the People: We Have to Fix That
by Lizz Hudler // November 8, 2012 //As was expected, problems at the polls abounded on November 6, nationwide. While glitches were reported across the country, voter-rights watchers paid particular attention to the swing states, where obstacles to ballot access in the form of registration ambiguities, voting-day misinformation, voter suppression tactics, and long, exhausting (and cold!) lines had potential to lower turnout and affect outcomes. President Barack Obama in his acceptance speechTuesday night, thanked people for waiting in those lines --- and then added, “By the way, we have to fix that.”
-
2012 Election Night Congressional Scorecard
by Rob Richie, Devin McCarthy // November 6, 2012 //Predict the winner of the national congressional vote on election night using district partisanship data from early returns!
-
Stamp Out Democracy on the Cheap
by Patricia Hart // November 5, 2012 //One first class stamp: 45 cents. One extra ounce to ship: 20 cents. Voting in a democracy: priceless.
-
Nine House Races to Watch (and Five You Don’t Have To) on Election Night
by Rob Richie, Devin McCarthy // November 3, 2012 //These are the races that prominent election forecasters might get wrong by underestimating the importance of district partisanship in determining the outcome of congressional elections. See what FairVote's partisanship-based analysis predicts.
-
2012 Presidential Election Night Scorecard
by Rob Richie, Andrea Levien // November 2, 2012 //Predict the winner of the national popular vote for president on election night using FairVote's measure of state partisanship!
-
Presidential Campaign Attention: Why Most States Aren’t Worth Any Despite Their Generosity
by Presidential Tracker, Andrea Levien // November 1, 2012 //For the past two months, FairVote has been highlighting the inequality that the winner-take-all method of allocating electoral votes perpetuates: swing states are targetted and safe states are not. However, another type of inequality to consider is the inequality this rule creates between wealthy and non-wealthy safe state residents. Wealthy residents in every state are targetted at fundrairsers, as they provide a good portion of the money funding the campaigns. Low and middle income swing state residents are targetted because they provide votes that could swing a state to one candidate or another. Low and middle income safe state residents, on the other hand, are out of luck.
-
New Report Analyzes the Effect of Top Two in Washington State
by Drew Spencer // October 25, 2012 //The Top Two primary system has drawn increasing attention as a way to reform our elections. Instead of conducting ordinary partisan primaries, Top Two jurisdictions run an open preliminary in which all candidates run against each other irrespective of party label. Then, the two candidates who receive the most votes run against each other again in the general election. In a new report, FairVote takes a "just the facts" approach to how Top Two has operated in Washington State since 2008.
-
FairVote Report: Low Turnout Plagues U.S. Mayoral Elections, but San Francisco is Highest
by Rob Richie, Devin McCarthy // October 24, 2012 //A new dataset compiled by FairVote reveals that low voter turnout is pervasive in recent mayoral elections in the 22 largest U.S. cities.
-
Putin's United Russia Wins Resounding Victories in Local Elections
by Devin McCarthy, Sara Helmi // October 18, 2012 //As the results of Russia's October 14 local elections show, the rumors of United Russia's death have been greatly exaggerated. But did Vladimir Putin's party manipulate Russia's electoral laws to keep power?