FairVote Blog
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Yet Again, Just Three States Draw The Majority of Campaign Attention: Presidential Tracker Update, October 17, 2012
by Presidential Tracker, Andrea Levien // October 17, 2012 //This election cycle, the three largest battleground states - Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, together representing about 12.5% of the nation - are receiving the majority of campaign attention as measured by both ad spending and campaign events with presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Florida and Ohio were among the three states in the same position in 2004 and 2008, but Virginia has displaced Pennsylvania as the third most coveted state.
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Election Simulations From 1960-2008 Show That Electoral College Rules Don’t Help Either Party, but Do Harm American Democracy
by Rob Richie, Andrea Levien // October 12, 2012 //By simulating 50-50 ties in the national popular vote for president, FairVote demonstrates that the Electoral College does not systematically harm or help either major party. We also demonstrate that in six of the past thirteen elections, a near tie in the national popular vote would have elected the wrong winner.
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New Report Highlights Our Primary Turnout Problem
by Rob Richie // October 11, 2012 //A new report on plunging turnout in federal primary elections underscores a crisis of non-participation in American elections -- one that is far more pronounced and troubling in primary elections and city elections than for higher-profile elections for president and Congress. There are concrete actions we could take to boost participation and give voters more choice and better representation in our elections.
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How New Mexico Lost Its Swing
New Mexico is no longer a swing state. Therefore, it should no longer expect any attention from either presidential campaign. Why did this happen and what does it mean for other states in the 2016 election?
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Swing States and Swing Media Markets: Presidential Tracker Update, October 3, 2012
by Presidential Tracker, Andrea Levien // October 3, 2012 //There are 34 days left before Election Day, and the candidates have yet to campaign in 40 states since the end of the Democratic National Convention, which ended September 7. But don't take that to mean that the candidates are sitting on their laurels. Read here where the candidates have been spending their time and money during the month of September.
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Revealing Evidence of Who Votes – and Who Doesn’t – in Local Elections
by Rob Richie, Stephen Mortellaro // September 27, 2012 //Demographic data reveals interesting trends in voter turnout in the recent Takoma Park election using instant runoff voting.
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Four Crazy Electoral College Rules
by Rob Richie // September 26, 2012 //The Electoral College in its current form is always pretty crazy--after all, every election it causes campaigns to ignore most of the country in favor of a handfull of swing states. But you may not know the four craziest Electoral College rules, written into the Constitution, that could take effect this November.
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Major Media Gets it Wrong on Hong Kong Elections
by Devin McCarthy, Sara Helmi // September 24, 2012 //Hong Kong's pro-democracy parties did not perform as well as expected in the September 9 Legislative Council elections. The New York Times would have you believe that the disappointing result can be blamed on Hong Kong's proportional representation system. But that explanation is misleading and distracts from the real problems of the city's electoral structure.
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FairVote’s Presidential Campaign Tracker: Past, Present, and Future
by Presidential Tracker, Andrea Levien // September 18, 2012 //The presidential campaign has entered its final weeks, when presidential candidates travel and campaign across the country almost every day (in swing states), advertise on television hundreds of times a day (in swing states), and thousands of volunteers devote their weekends and evenings to getting out the vote (in in swing states). This election cycle, FairVote is continuing our efforts to track the candidates’ travel and television ad spending, just as we did in the 2004 and 2008 campaigns and throughout President Barack Obama’s time in office.
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Are Top Two Backers Seeking to Crush Dissent in California?
by Drew Spencer, Rob Richie // September 15, 2012 //California's new Top Two election system has its strong advocates and opponents. Some opponents brought a lawsuit against Top Two to address what it saw as unconstitutional flaws. Although they lost in court, the legislature corrected one of the major flaws highlighted in the lawsuit. But now wealthy interveners in the case are seeking to collect fees against the plaintiffs, and a state judge has agreed. The interveners' action and the judge's ruling set a dangerous precedent.