President Barack Obama’s year-end interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep touched on a range of subjects--most notably a structural flaw in the way we elect the House of Representatives.

The most recent scuffle over congressional redistricting in Virginia illustrates how poor a job single-winner districts do at achieving meaningful elections with fair results. With single-winner districts, we get results that may or may not be fair, may or may not be competitive, and result in a paradox under which they cannot be both fair and competitive.

Florida is facing an electoral quandary as two of its congressional districts have been found to violate the state constitution, and the legislature is redrawing the maps as November elections loom. The legislature does not want to use the new map in 2014, but FairVote's analysis outlines two plans that could resolve the crisis. The better of these plans would also improve the representation of Florida voters in the process.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal in May signed a law establishing voting pre-registration for 16-year-olds. The law features an innovative "opt-out" approach to voter registration that will further boost registration and participation. Louisiana has a history of such innovative election policy.