Entries Categorized with "FairVote"
- 70 of 103 results
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Lower Presidential Election Turnout in Safe Republican States
- Posted: July 8, 2011
- Author(s): Neal Suidan
- Categories: Home, National Popular Vote, Reforms, FairVote
Thirteen states have voted for Republicans in every presidential election since 1980: Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. This track record makes them the most consistently safe Republican strongholds in modern presidential politics. In 1988, these states’ turnout barely trailed that of the rest of the country, by 2.56%. But in every election since, these 13 states have fallen further behind. In 2008, their turnout was 6.22% behind the rest of the nation.
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Rossello v. United States and the Right to Vote for Puerto Rico
- Posted: July 5, 2011
- Author(s): Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, Universal Voter Registration, FairVote
Brought in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by former governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Rossello, Rossello v. United States addresses the lack of a right to cast a ballot and have such ballots counted in national elections for president and Congress by residents of Puerto Rico. Petitioner Rossello has been disenfranchised, along with all other residents of Puerto Rico, despite his American citizenship, based solely on his area of residence within the United States. The case raises larger issues about voting rights for Americans who live in American "colonies" that are not states. -
Obama’s Field Team: Swing State Power
- Posted: June 28, 2011
- Author(s): Rob Richie
- Categories: FairVote
President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign is already well underway. His early hires are the latest evidence of the negative effects of current state rules governing the Electoral College which force candidates to focus on a dwindling number of swing states -- and point to the value of adoption of the National Popular Vote plan for president.
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The Constitutional Right to Vote Blog: Rock the Blog!
- Posted: June 14, 2011
- Author(s): Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Universal Voter Registration, FairVote, All Reports
“The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” While the language of the 26th amendment is intended to serve young people well, it still leaves open a loophole in Constitutional law- while young people cannot be discriminated against based on their age, they can be denied the chance to vote, or have their ability to vote abridged, for reasons that can also undercut voting rights for older citizens.
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Internet Voting 2.0 and Other Advances in Election Technology in Takoma Park
- Posted: June 9, 2011
- Author(s): Melanie Kiser
- Categories: FairVote
An innovation in Internet voting seems to address problems with voter anonymity and privacy, but the potential for manipulation and subterfuge by hackers remains the fiberglass ceiling of online voting.
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The Right to Vote Blog: Put more money into politics?
- Posted: June 1, 2011
- Author(s): Right to Vote Blog, Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, FairVote
“Let’s put more money into politics!” is a rallying cry that won’t win over too many supporters.
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The End of the Election Assistance Commission?
- Posted: May 31, 2011
- Author(s): Dean Searcy, Nate Crippes
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Home, FairVote
The future of the Election Assistance Commission, an independent bipartisan government agency tasked with making elections fair and accessible, is in question. Amid the intense debate in Washington over government spending, this small agency could be terminated, some of its tasks being relegated to the Federal Elections Commission, in order to save the taxpayers $14 million a year. In the United State House of Representatives, H.R. 672, a bill introduced by Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS), seeks to terminate the EAC. The bill has made it through the Committee on House Administration along party lines, and will now move to the House for a vote.
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Democratization and Conflict in the Arab World: Challenges, opportunities and dangers- We were there!
- Posted: May 31, 2011
- Author(s): Arab Spring Series, Wael Abdel Hamid
- Categories: Home, Middle East and Africa, FairVote, Elections Worldwide
On May 4 , the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)in Washington, D.C. hosted an exceptional conference, organized with Georgetown University, entitled “Democratization and Conflict in the Arab World: Challenges, opportunities and dangers”. The aim of the conference was “to offer concrete, policy-relevant insights that will be of benefit to political leaders in the Arab world, as well as to policy makers and activists in the United States working in the areas of human rights, democratic change and the rule of law”.
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Utah Redistricting: Avoid controversy with a statewide plan for House seats
- Posted: May 25, 2011
- Author(s): Dean Searcy
- Categories: Home, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Cumulative Voting, FairVote
Following the 2010 Census, Utah is gaining another Congressional seat for a total of four seats. As might be expected, the addition of a fourth seat has thrown the state legislature into partisan conflicts because the strongly Republican state legislature is seeking to dismantle the more Democratic concentration in the second district by cutting it into three pieces. Senate President Michael Waddoups wants to draw lines north to south instead of focusing on compactness, leaving Democrats concerned the new plan will divide their county into three parts and weaken their meager base that helps them elect Democrat Jim Matheson to the U.S. House. Clearly, partisanship is an issue -- one that the state could avoid by adopting a proportional voting in a statewide race.
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New Mexico Redistricting: Super Districts for U.S. House
- Posted: May 24, 2011
- Author(s): Dean Searcy
- Categories: Home, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Cumulative Voting, FairVote
When it comes to the complexities of redistricting, New Mexico is no exception. On May 14th, It's legislative leaders named an 18-member committee to work on the monumental task. In the past, several Congressional redistricting maps have ended up in the courts due to fights over partisanship and incumbent protection - leaving the judicial system to redraw the lines. In the 1960s, however, New Mexico elected its U.S. House seats at-large - and should do so again in a single "super district," but this time witih a proportional voting system providing fairer representation.