Entries from 2012
- 90 of 108 results
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Four Crazy Electoral College Rules
- Posted: September 26, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie
- Categories: Home, Presidential Elections, National Popular Vote
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
- Posted: September 24, 2012
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy, Sara Helmi
- Categories: Home, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Asia and Oceania, International Elections, Elections Worldwide
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
- Posted: September 18, 2012
- Author(s): Presidential Tracker, Andrea Levien
- Categories: Presidential Tracker, National Popular Vote, Presidential Elections
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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Texas Congressional Redistricting: Beyond Last Week's Section 5 Ruling
- Posted: September 7, 2012
- Author(s): Drew Spencer, Rob Richie
- Categories: Home, Redistricting, Voting Rights
Texas has had problems with redistricting - yet again. Last week's federal court ruling that Texas's 2011 plans for congressional districts and state legislative districts had both the purpose and effect of further reducing the representation of Texas's already underrepresented racial minority populations is just the state's latest salvo in the redistricting wars. We show that there's another way: fair voting plans.
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Presidential Inequality, Barack Obama, and a Tale of Two Carolinas
- Posted: September 6, 2012
- Author(s): Presidential Tracker, Rob Richie, Andrea Levien
- Categories: Presidential Tracker, Presidential Elections, National Popular Vote
Our current Electoral College rules mean that a mere four percent vote shift can make all the difference in how a state’s voters experience the presidential election. There is no better example than North Carolina and South Carolina.
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The Nonpartisan Case for National Popular Vote: Al Gore, not GOP Platform, Gets it Right
- Posted: September 5, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Home, National Popular Vote
Last week, the 2012 Republican Party Platform came out against a national popular vote, while Al Gore spoke in favor of one. Does that mean that the National Popular Vote plan is a partisan issue? To the contrary.
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Are Top Two Backers Seeking to Crush Dissent in California?
- Posted: September 15, 2012
- Author(s): Drew Spencer, Rob Richie
- Categories: Home
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.
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Convening in the Swing States: Why the parties are meeting in Florida and North Carolina
- Posted: August 28, 2012
- Author(s): Presidential Tracker, Andrea Levien
- Categories: Presidential Tracker, Home, Presidential Elections, National Popular Vote
Was it the hope of swing state victories that led the Republican and Democratic parties to decide to host their conventions in Charlotte, North Carolina and Tampa, Florida? Evidence suggests that it was, even if that may not mean much in terms of either campaign’s ability to win those states.
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Todd Akin and Non-Majority Rule
- Posted: August 24, 2012
- Author(s): Patricia Hart
- Categories: Instant Runoff Voting, Home, Congressional Elections
Having just completed his 6th term in the U.S. House, Republican Todd Akin is widely known as Missouri's controversial Senate candidate. As the media scorns his comments about rape and pregnancy, many wonder how Akin came to office in the first place, which presents an opportunity to step back and examine the system that put him in power. What have we got here? A case of plurality voting and the unrepresentative legislator.
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How the Electoral College Became Winner-Take-All
- Posted: August 22, 2012
- Author(s): Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Home, Presidential Elections, National Popular Vote
Electoral College electors weren't always chosen based on statewide winner-take-all rules. The first 13 U.S. presidential elections were messy and confusing, as each state used its own method for holding--or not holding--presidential elections.