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  • Winner-Take-All. We Can Do Better.

    Winner-take-all elections box voters into simplistic red and blue divisions that poorly reflect our diversity of views. They turn most state legislative and congressional elections into "no-choice" contests. Only a handful of swing states will get attention from presidential candidate.

    To take on winner-take-all, FairVote backs forms of proportional representation for electing legislatures and a national popular vote for president instead of state-based winner-take-all rules.

    * Most robust democracies use proportional representation, NOT winner-take-all. See more here.

    * Fair voting plan series: Latest blog and report from Missouri

    * FairVote Chair Emeritus John Anderson's new op-ed in Chicago Tribune on cumulative voting

    * FairVote's resources on a national popular vote for president

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  • FairVote analysis in national news

    On February 12th, FairVote executive director Rob Richie was a guest on CSPAN television's Washington Journal, aired live around the nation. That day he also had the first and final letters in the New York Times' "Invitation to Dialogue" series on voting reform. FairVote staff and interns have been publishing many articles in 2012.

    Rob Richie on CSPAN

    New York Times "Invitation to Dialogue"

    Fair voting op-eds in St. Louis Post-Dispatch & Austin American-Statesman

    FairVote blogs on Huffington Post & Oped News

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  • FairVote Testimony on Electoral College Reform in Pennsylvania

    On October 4, 2011, FairVote submitted a written testimony to the Pennsylvania Senate's 'State Government Committee' for the public hearing on electoral reform of whether or not to allocate the state's electoral votes based on congressional district outcomes. 

    FairVote strongly opposes the proposed legislation. When adopted in all states, the congressional district system takes us farther from the goal of ensuring that the winner of the national popular vote is elected president. When adopted in Pennsylvania alone, it takes us farther from the goal of ensuring that the winner of Pennsylvania's statewide popular vote wins most of the state's electoral votes.

    And, make sure to see Rob Richie's Nation magazine commentary on the Pennsylvania controversy

    Download FairVote Testimony of Electoral College Reform in Pennsylvania

     

     

     

     

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  • Winner-take-all machinations in Pennsylvania

    FairVote for years has documented the broken nature of the current Electoral College system, including presidential candidates in general elections focusing solely on a dwindling number of winner-take-all swing states and partisans bending electoral rules to try to win those states. Now it's getting worse, with Republican leaders newly in charge of Pennsylvania backing a plan that likely would give a majority of that state's 2012 electoral votes to a candidate who lost the state's popular vote -- just as North Carolina Democrats nearly did in 2001.

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  • California Win for National Popular Vote: FairVote Reforms on the Move

    California Governor Jerry Brown today signed the National Popular Vote plan for president. Five years after FairVote joined with other reformers to launch the effort, it is halfway to enactment. It is law in states representing 49% of the electoral votes necessary to govern the next presidential election.

     

     

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  • National Popular Vote: Halfway to Victory with California Win

    On July 14, the California State Senate voted 23-15 in favor of the National Popular Vote bill. Last month it passed the California State Assembly by 51-21 margin and now goes to Governor Jerry Brown for approval. With his signature, California will become the eighth state (joined by DC) to enact the National Popular Vote plan. 

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  • Fixing Broken Presidential Elections with "NPV"

    First detailed in FairVote's 2006 Presidential Elections Inequality report, current state laws allocating electoral votes have a perverse impact on equality in our republic. As a result of our electoral system, the number of competitive states has also dropped recently, indicating that Presidents don't reach out to as many states as before. At the same time, we have a reform available for action: the National Popular Vote plan, which has chalked up new state wins.

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  • California Democracy Dreaming

    California's tradition of pace-setting changes in the United States bodes well for reformers. Instant runoff voting (IRV, ranked choice voting) gained more validation in the Bay Area, with a definitive federal court ruling unanimously upholding its legality in San Francisco and a broadly supported "Champion of Democracy" event in in Oakland. The National Popular Vote plan for president earned an easy win in the Assembly and should reach Gov. Jerry Brown's desk this year. The legislature also advanced sensible changes to increase secure access to voting.

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  • Vermont to Enter National Popular Vote Agreement

    Vermont's governor Peter Shumlin on April 22 will sign the National Popular Vote plan (NPV) for president, making his state the 8th state (counting Washington, D.C.) to enter this interstate agreement designed to guarantee that the candidate who wins the most votes in all 50 states and DC will become president.

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  • National Popular Vote plan: Advances mark 5-year anniversary

     

    Five years ago, on Feb. 23, 2011, FairVote's Rob Richie and John Anderson joined other founders of the National Popular Vote plan for presidential elections for a National Press Club news conference announcing the proposal. Since then, six states (and Washington, D.C) have adopted the plan and nearly a third of state legislative chambers have passed it. More than 2,000 state legislators have voted for it or sponsored it in their states.

     

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