Entries Categorized with "Proportional Voting"
- 50 of 155 results
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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, Choice Voting/Proportional Representation, Proportional Voting, 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, Choice Voting/Proportional Representation, Proportional Voting, 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.
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Missouri Redistricting: Super-districts are Superior
- Posted: May 11, 2011
- Author(s): Dean Searcy
- Categories: Home, Proportional Voting, FairVote
On May 4th, the Missouri legislature voted to override Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of House Bill 193, a bill which would redraw state lines using the 2010 census. In an unexpected turn of events, seven Democrats joined with the Republicans in a 104-44 vote to override Gov. Nixon's veto and pass the new lines into law, the first occurrence of such an event in Missouri history.
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Indiana: A Better Redistricting Plan with Super Districts
- Posted: May 5, 2011
- Author(s): Dean Searcy
- Categories: Home, Proportional Voting, FairVote
After much debate, a GOP Congressional redistricting plan was approved this past week by both the Indiana House and Senate. Despite the Republican Party's efforts to quell allegations of partisan gerrymandering, it is quite clear that partisanship has been a factor.
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Louisiana Redistricting: A Better Method
- Posted: April 18, 2011
- Author(s): Dean Searcy, Rob Richie, Super Districts
- Categories: Home, Choice Voting/Proportional Representation, Proportional Voting, FairVote
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is about to sign legislation establishing a redistricting plan that distorts partisan representation, breaks up natural communities, underrepresents racial minorities and creates largely noncompetitive races. Super districts with two three-member districts and a non-winner-take-all voting systemn would dramatically boost fair representation and give all voters competitive choice.
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Virginia Redistricting: Part II
- Posted: April 13, 2011
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Matt Morris
- Categories: Home, Proportional Voting
The Virginia State legislature also must re-draw their district lines to reflect census data. See how many more voters would have competitive choice and fair representation with multi-member districts and proportional voting.
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New Jersey Redistricting: A Better Method
- Posted: April 11, 2011
- Author(s): Dean Searcy
- Categories: Home, Proportional Voting, FairVote
States around the country are plunging into the famed "political thicket" of redistricting. States having to move the fastest are those like New Jersey that this year will hold state legislative elections in their new plan. With winner-take-all rules, the impact of how lines are drawn is enormously point - that's why FairVote suggests giving more power to voters and less power to mapmakers through adoption of forms of proportional voting. New Jersey's state legislative districts provide a good example.
New Jersey's Apportionment Commission is a bipartisan body which is responsible for appointing the state's 40 legislative districts following a census every ten years. Each state legislative district elects one state senator and two state assembly members. After the usual
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Virginia Congressional Redistricting: A Better Method
- Posted: April 4, 2011
- Author(s): Matt Morris
- Categories: Home, Proportional Voting
After every census, states across the country must re-draw their congressional district lines to reflect the data. This often leads to gerrymandering, but a better alternative is to use multi-member districts with proportional voting. See an example.
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The Next Step Beyond Honor and Sanity?
- Posted: November 1, 2010
- Author(s): Krist Novoselic
- Categories: Home, Choice Voting/Proportional Representation, Proportional Voting, FairVote
Moving beyond rhetoric and labels, Krist Novoselic, FairVote's Board Chair, discusses ways to reinvigorate the political system.
Krist writes: "We’ve seen voters coalesce around a celebrity candidate, but we could very well soon see a celebrity-initiated new party."
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Debunking the Myths about Port Chester
- Posted: June 25, 2010
- Author(s): Alec Slatky
- Categories: Proportional Voting, Cumulative Voting
Port Chester's historic Board of Trustees election this past month has drawn national attention for its use of cumulative voting. But the amount of misinformation found in the media coverage is high, so FairVote would like to correct some of the most common fallacies.