Content Categorized with "Redistricting"
1 - 10 of 28 results
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FairVote Testimony on Independent Redistricting in Maryland
- Posted: March 11, 2013
- Categories: Redistricting
On March 11, 2013, legal fellow Drew Spencer and research fellow Devin McCarthy testified before the Maryland House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee on HB 233, which would establish a Study Commission on the Redistricting Process in Maryland.
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California and the Limits of Independent Redistricting Commissions with Winner-Take-All
- Posted: February 15, 2013
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Home, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Redistricting
Independent redistricting continues to gain attention as the panacea for American congressional elections. But as the independent redistricting's performance in California shows, on its own it cannot resolve the most serious problems with our congressional elections. We need to combine independent redistricting with adoption of fair voting plans.
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It’s Not Just Gerrymandering: Fixing House Elections Demands End of Winner-Take-All Rules
- Posted: December 16, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Home, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Redistricting
This year's elections put a spotlight on the troubled nature of how we elect the House of Representatives, the alleged "people's house." But some of our smartest election experts don't seem to understand the root of the problems with House elections.
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A Representative Congress: Enhancing African American Voting Rights in the South with Choice Voting
- Posted: November 27, 2012
- Author(s): Drew Spencer, Rob Richie
- Categories: Home, Reforms, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Redistricting, Voting Rights, FairVote
In southern states, racially polarized elections remain an active part of political life. Since 1965, the Voting Rights Act has guaranteed that African Americans in the South cannot be shut out of elections either through direct barriers to voting or through discriminatory districts that prevent the achievement of representation. However, relying on winner-take-all elections has inherent limitations. In the belt of southern states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas, the use of districting to achieve a fairer level of representation for African Americans has hit a ceiling. To push through that ceiling and achieve truly fair representation, FairVote recommends abandoning the single-member district in favor of super districts elected by choice voting.
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Monopoly Politics 2012
- Posted: October 12, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Congressional Elections, Redistricting
FairVote has issued its new Monopoly Politics 2012 report on U.S. House elections. The report demonstrates the growing partisan rigidity of voters in U.S. House elections with a detailed state-by-state, district-by-district review of this year's congressional races and the 2010 elections. It includes information on the presidential election results in every 2012 district, how each district's partisanship has changed since 2010 and the likely outcome of the Congressional elections next month.
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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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U.S. House Elections as They Are and Will Be
- Posted: July 23, 2012
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Home, Congressional Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Redistricting
FairVote has released two new reports about congressional elections and an interactive map that summarizes their findings. Monopoly Politics 2012 provides the partisan landscape for all 435 U.S. House districts, with data on recent elections and how redistricting will affect partisan outcomes and racial fairness in 2012. Fair Voting 2012 shows how American forms of proportional representation could work in every state with more than one House district.
Our reports come with insightful analysis about partisan outcomes, competitiveness, southern politics and more.
- FairVotingUS.Com: FairVote's interactive map that presents reports
- Fair Voting 2012: State profiles and analysis about fair voting plans
- Monopoly Politics 2012: State profiles and analysis about 2012 House elections
- Dedication of reports to William Raspberry and Lindsey Needham
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Primaries Spotlight Sharp Decline in U.S. House Moderates
- Posted: May 8, 2012
- Author(s): Sheahan Virgin, Rob Richie
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Home, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, Redistricting, Cumulative Voting
On April 24, two moderate Blue Dog Democrats, Tim Holden and Jason Altmire, lost in Pennsylvania's primary election. They are the latest examples of an accelerating "no-more-moderates" trend within both major parties. But fair representation of the left, right and center is essential to the health of a democracy. Grounded in its unique the-rules-matter perspective, FairVote explores how winner-take-all voting rules today disadvantage candidates willing to seek bipartisan solutions to problems.
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Congressional Redistricting Matters, and It’s Hurting This Country: a Response to Michael Barone
- Posted: March 22, 2012
- Author(s): Sheahan Virgin
- Categories: Home, Congressional Elections, Redistricting, Cumulative Voting
Recently, pundit Michael Barone argued in The National Review that redistricting in 2011 has turned out to “matter less than we thought.” But Barone is mistaken, overly concerned about redistricting’s impact on each major party rather its effect on voters already trapped within a troubling winner-take-all framework. Furthermore, Barone is wrong to say that partisan redistricting in 2011 has produced “clean” lines. It has not. With our unique take on redistricting and focus on voters, not political parties, FairVote sets the record straight in its rebuttle to Barone.
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No More Gerrymanders: Missouri's Partisan Plan versus the Fair Voting Alternative
- Posted: March 15, 2012
- Author(s): Sheahan Virgin, Rob Richie, Fair Voting Plans, Lindsey Needham
- Categories: Home, The Fair Voting Solution for U.S. House Elections, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Redistricting
Lawmakers in Missouri have recently passed a congressional redistricting plan that gives Republican candidates a strong advantage in 6 of 8 seats and protects nearly all incumbents. There's a better way--fair voting systems in multi-seat "super-districts." Read the latest in our fair voting plan series.