Entries from December, 2012
- 10 of 10 results
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South Korea Elects Its First Female President
- Posted: December 29, 2012
- Author(s): Patricia Hart
- Categories: Asia and Oceania, Elections Worldwide
Women world leaders enhanced their numbers this month, as Park Geun-Hye of South Korea joined the current 13 female presidents and premiers on Wednesday, Dec. 19. Park was elected directly with 51.66 percent of the vote, while her party, the New Frontier Party (NFP), took 152 of the 299 seats in the National Assembly.
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Statewide Recounts Remain Scarce: Zero in 2012
- Posted: December 21, 2012
- Author(s): Mollie Hailey
- Categories: Home, National Popular Vote
There were no recounts out of more than 400 statewide elections in 2012. FairVote's research of all statewide general elections from 2000 to 2012 underscores how rarely such recounts take place and how little they affect victory margins. Post-election audits are a better way to uncover the kind of major fraud or error that might actually change an election outcome.
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When Barack Obama Was a Leader in Seeking Fair Voting Systems
- Posted: December 20, 2012
- Author(s): Drew Spencer, Rob Richie
- Categories: Instant Runoff Voting, Home, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Congressional Elections, FairVote
President Barack Obama has a lot on his mind these days, but the state of our democracy remains critical. Fortunately, judging by Obama's record in the Illinois Senate --where he was the prime sponsor of legislation to advance cumulative voting and instant runoff voting - we haven't had a president as informed about good ideas for taking on electoral reform since James Madison and the founding generation.
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Not Helping America Vote: The Plight of the Un-filled Election Assistance Commission
- Posted: February 26, 2013
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Lizz Hudler
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, FairVote
Creating an active EAC is a simple positive step – and one that happens to be the law. Reform should be about systemic, enduring solutions, not just shorter lines. #wehavetofixthat
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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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New Commitment to Our Most Basic Right
- Posted: December 13, 2012
- Author(s): Mollie Hailey
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, Universal Voter Registration
Attorney General Holder has observed that, “too many citizens have reason to fear that their right to vote, their access to the ballot – and their ability to have their votes counted – is under threat.” Through reform of the systemic problems that plague our electoral process, we can combat this threat. We will ultimately need to think and act nationally; but now is the time for all of us to get involved in that effort in our cities and states.
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Electoral College Chaos: How Republicans Could Put a Lock on the Presidency
- Posted: December 13, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie
- Categories: Home, National Popular Vote, Presidential Elections
Our current Electoral College rules allow for partisan manipulation of outcomes. FairVote's director Rob Richie explains how if Republicans in 2011 had abused their monopoly control of state government in several key swing states and passed new laws for allocating electoral votes, the exact same votes cast in the exact same way in the 2012 election would have converted Barack Obama's advantage of nearly five million popular votes and 126 electoral votes into a resounding Electoral College defeat.
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FairVote Chair Krist Novoselic on Democracy and Proportional Representation
- Posted: December 12, 2012
- Author(s): Drew Spencer
- Categories: Home, FairVote
Those in New York City were recently excited to learn that Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl of Nirvana will be reuniting to play at the 12/12/12 benefit concert for those affected by Hurricane Sandy, with Paul McCartney joining them in the role formerly filled by Kurt Cobain. A smaller number may be aware of the critical role Krist Novoselic has played in fighting for reforms to improve American democracy.
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“Incumbency Bumps": Measuring National Partisan Swings By Evaluating the Incumbent Advantage in U.S. House Races, 1996-2012
- Posted: December 4, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Home, Congressional Elections
FairVote introduces its updated "incumbency bump" data for the 2012 election. Incumbents once again received a substantial advantage over challengers this year, although that bump was the lowest it has been since FairVote first began analyzing incumbency in 1996.
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Pennsylvania Senate Leader Pileggi Wrong on Prescription for Electoral College Reform
- Posted: December 3, 2012
- Author(s): Rob Richie
- Categories: National Popular Vote, FairVote
Pennsylvania's senate majority leader Dominic Pileggi is backing a new plan to divide his state's electoral votes in the 2016 presidential race. While supported as a means to provide a fair reflection of state voters in the Electoral College, the plan has big downsides -- and falls far short of the National Popular Vote plan. Sen. Pileggi should back the National Popular Vote plan and apply his interest in proportional representation to elections for Congress and the state legislature.