Content Categorized with "Voting Rights"
1 - 10 of 13 results
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Constitutional Right to Vote Introduced in Congress and Backed in Maryland City
- Posted: May 14, 2013
- Categories: Voting Rights
U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) announced on May 13th that they will introduce legislation this week to explicitly guarantee the right to vote in the Constitution, while on a local level the city council of Takoma Park, Maryland, unanimously adopted a resolution in support of a right to vote in the Constitution and the creation of a task force to suggest ways to boost voter participation. Takoma Park also will become the first city in the United States to lower the voting age to 16.
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Takoma Park Promotes the Vote: Will More Cities, Campuses and Organizations Take Action?
- Posted: April 16, 2013
- Author(s): Rob Richie
- Categories: Reforms, Felon Disenfranchisement, Voting Rights
Last night, the Takoma Park city council passed a charter amendment on first reading that, if approved when before the council again in the coming month, will be in the best tradition of cities and states leading the nation in advancing voting rights. It would establish same-day voter registration and extend voting rights to residents after they turn 16 and after incarceration. Here's why we think it's important.
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The Voting Rights Act, Jerome Gray and Fair Voting in Alabama
- Posted: March 8, 2013
- Author(s): Drew Spencer
- Categories: Home, Reforms, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Voting Rights, Cumulative Voting, FairVote
Among news coverage surrounding the upcoming landmark Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which will decide the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Jerome Gray has received partiuclar attention.. Gray has had a remarkable career as a community organizer, including helping to make sure fair voting systems were effective for African American voters.
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Right to Vote in the Spotlight
- Posted: March 1, 2013
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, Voting Rights
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in an important case involving the Voting Rights Act, while FairVote is stepping up its campaign for Congress to uphold federal law and stop blocking commissioners to be seated on the Federal Election Commission. We're also excited about our new Promote Our Vote campaign designed to generate local actions to expand and protect suffrage.
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True The Vote Fudges the Numbers in New Turnout Study
- Posted: February 28, 2013
- Author(s): Andrea Levien
- Categories: Home, Voting Rights
True the Vote, an organization dedicated to eradicating voter fraud through controversial methods, issued a report on February 27 concluding that new voter ID laws not only did not have an adverse impact on turnout in the 2012 elections, but may have increased turnout. But it turns out the report’s authors made a huge methodological mistake.
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FairVote Agrees: Preserve the Voting Rights Act
- Posted: February 27, 2013
- Author(s): Mollie Hailey
- Categories: Home, Voting Rights
The right to vote is essential for a truly representative democracy, and legislation implemented with widespread support in Congress to enhance this right, such as Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, should be upheld.
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The Role of Fair Voting Systems in the Shelby County Case
- Posted: February 21, 2013
- Author(s): Drew Spencer, Rob Richie
- Categories: Home, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Voting Rights
On February 27, the U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral arguments in the case of Shelby County v. Holder, reviewing the constitutionality of Section 5 "preclearance" provisions of the Voting Rights Act. A largely overlooked part of the case is the fact that Section 5 was the reason that Calera, a growing city in Alabama's Shelby County just south of Birmingham, adopted one of the fair voting systems we recommend to uphold voting rights.
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Who Needs to Fix That? We Do.
- Posted: January 7, 2013
- Author(s): Lizz Hudler
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, Voting Rights, FairVote
When President Barack Obama paused in his victory speech, thanking voters for waiting in long lines to vote but noting 'we have to fix that', one might have assumed that reform would come from the top.
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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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From the Mouth of the President to the Ears of the People: We Have to Fix That
- Posted: November 8, 2012
- Author(s): Lizz Hudler
- Categories: Right to Vote Amendment, Universal Voter Registration, Voting Rights, FairVote
As was expected, problems at the polls abounded on November 6, nationwide. While glitches were reported across the country, voter-rights watchers paid particular attention to the swing states, where obstacles to ballot access in the form of registration ambiguities, voting-day misinformation, voter suppression tactics, and long, exhausting (and cold!) lines had potential to lower turnout and affect outcomes. President Barack Obama in his acceptance speechTuesday night, thanked people for waiting in those lines --- and then added, “By the way, we have to fix that.”