FairVote Blog
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The Voting Rights Act, Jerome Gray and Fair Voting in Alabama
by Drew Spencer // March 8, 2013 //Among news coverage surrounding the upcoming landmark Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which will decide the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Jerome Gray has received partiuclar attention.. Gray has had a remarkable career as a community organizer, including helping to make sure fair voting systems were effective for African American voters.
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Scholars like Nathaniel Persily Shouldn’t Count Out Fair Voting
by Devin McCarthy // March 5, 2013 //Many election experts ignore fair voting reform solutions because they believe them to be politically infeasible. But the only way for fair voting to become achievable is for those who know about it to start talking about the positive impact it could have on American politics.
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2013 Edition of Every Vote Equal: The case for the National Popular Vote Plan
by Andrea Levien // March 5, 2013 //FairVote is pleased to announce that the newest edition of National Popular Vote's Every Vote Equal: A State Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote, is now available for free download at www.EveryVoteEqual.com. Co-authored by FairVote's executive director Rob Richie, this book explains in detail the need for a national popular vote for president, and the solution to that need: the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
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True The Vote Fudges the Numbers in New Turnout Study
by Andrea Levien // February 28, 2013 //True the Vote, an organization dedicated to eradicating voter fraud through controversial methods, issued a report on February 27 concluding that new voter ID laws not only did not have an adverse impact on turnout in the 2012 elections, but may have increased turnout. But it turns out the report’s authors made a huge methodological mistake.
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Italian Elections Expose Non-Proportional and Ineffective Voting System
by Devin McCarthy, Sara Helmi // February 28, 2013 //In the aftermath of Italy's general election on February 25-26, outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti asserted that "no country has such a bad electoral law as Italy." That may be an exaggeration, but there was plenty to be dissatisfied with in the election results.
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Gender Parity: A Case for Fair Voting and Party Rules
by Patricia Hart // February 28, 2013 //The United States trails behind ninety-one countries for women's representation in its national legislature . Ranking behind most industrialized democracies, women fill a mere eighteen percent of U.S. Congressional seats. Many factors contribute to the level of descriptive representation (representation that reflects the electorate) present in a state's government. Two striking influences on representation are structural and institutional: the electoral system in place and the party rules employed.
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FairVote Agrees: Preserve the Voting Rights Act
by Mollie Hailey // February 27, 2013 //The right to vote is essential for a truly representative democracy, and legislation implemented with widespread support in Congress to enhance this right, such as Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, should be upheld.
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Not Helping America Vote: The Plight of the Un-filled Election Assistance Commission
by Rob Richie, Lizz Hudler // February 26, 2013 //Creating an active EAC is a simple positive step – and one that happens to be the law. Reform should be about systemic, enduring solutions, not just shorter lines. #wehavetofixthat
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The Role of Fair Voting Systems in the Shelby County Case
by Drew Spencer, Rob Richie // February 21, 2013 //On February 27, the U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral arguments in the case of Shelby County v. Holder, reviewing the constitutionality of Section 5 "preclearance" provisions of the Voting Rights Act. A largely overlooked part of the case is the fact that Section 5 was the reason that Calera, a growing city in Alabama's Shelby County just south of Birmingham, adopted one of the fair voting systems we recommend to uphold voting rights.
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FairVote's Top Three Electoral College Stories of the Week, February 12 to February 19, 2013
by Andrea Levien // February 19, 2013 //Tune in every week for FairVote's favorite news items on the Electoral College and National Popular Vote.