.... and Try out IRV Yourself in Oscar Votes 123 Demo!
The British have a chance to reject their U.S.-style electoral system in favor of instant runoff voting (called "the alternative vote", or AV in the United Kingdom). Legislation to establish a May 5th national referendum cleared parliament this week, and polls show IRV can win. Even more than the United States, Britain has had a large rise in third party voting in recent decades, and IRV is a sensible step toward better accommodating voter choice and avoiding the "spoiler" controversy.
Backers of a Yes vote in the referendum include the Financial Times, Guardian and Independent newspapers, along with party leaders Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg. With their film The King's Speech favored to win the Best Picture Oscar next week in an election also decided by IRV, Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter have joined the Yes campaign. See the latest news at the UK campaign website: Yes to Fairer Votes
Here in the United States, Fort Collins (CO) will vote on IRV in April. State legislation is advancing as well; a bill in Hawaii earned with a unanimous committee vote this week.
For those of you wanting a more hands-on experience with a new voting method - and to boost your favorite in the Oscar race for Best Picture - try out our easy-to-use demo at OscarVotes123.com.
Have a great weekend,
Rob Richie, Executive Director
Fair voting in Egypt: New York Times features Steven Hill in oped series on proportional voting
The United States is one of the few major democracies to only use winner-take-all elections for national legislatures. Nearly every country in recent decades moving to genuine democratic elections has adopted forms of proportional voting, including South Africa, Brazil and all the Eastern European nations formerly dominated by the Soviet Union. As Egypt heads toward what the world hopes will be its first truly free and fair elections, international students of democratic transitions are nearly united in recommending a proportional voting system. The New York Times this week ran a fascinating on-line collection of commentaries on Egypt and fair elections, with several recommending replacing winner-take-all with proportional voting. Steven Hill, who helped found FairVote and went on to years of effective reform work in California, contributes to the collection.
IRV Advances in Hawaii and Colorado
Instant runoff voting (IRV, also known as "alternative vote", "ranked choice voting" and "preferential voting") is designed to accommodate increased voter choice and uphold majority rule. At least one city has passed IRV in a ballot measure every year since 2004. In April, Fort Collins (CO) will vote on it after the local League of Women Voters and a broad coalition of reformers collected signatures to place it on the ballot. (Here is their campaign website.) Meanwhile, Hawaii in 2010 had a congressional special election won with less than 40% of the vote, and other county special elections won with even less. A legislative committee on Tuesday unanimously adopted legislation to adopt IRV for local vacancy elections, as covered in the Civil Beat.National popular vote plan for president advances in West Virginia and Vermont
The national popular vote plan for president would guarantee that the winner of the national popular vote in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. would be elected president. It is advancing in states around the nation, building on its remarkable progress of passing at least one chamber in 21 states and being signed into law in six states and Washington, D.C. This week it passed key committee votes in West Virginia and Vermont.
Constitutional right to vote legislation introduced / Rob Richie's latest blog
We must establish the clear principle that, just like our First Amendment rights, the right to vote is essential to representative democracy. We need confidence that every eligible voter vote has full access to vote, but that no ineligible vote should be cast. We strongly endorse Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s new legislation to establish a, a constitutional right to vote. HIs HJR 28 was introduced this week. FairVote fellow Jo McKeegan writes a blog series on voting rights and the increasingly obviously argument that we must ensure that voting rights never become just another pawn in the partisan battles between the major parties. Rob Richie's recent contribution to the series also appeared in the Huffington Post.
Visit Twitter.com/endgerrymander for the latest tweets -- take federal action for proportional voting
With the mid-term elections over and legislatures back in session, redistricting is getting into full swing in states across the United States. FairVote has a variety of resources on redistricting. This year we are regularly tweeting news on redistricting around the country - see www.twitter.com/endgerrymander. And to help us put voters in charge, we need to move away from winner-take-all elections: the forthcoming Congress Commissions Act is designed to launch that conversation. Please visit our action page to urge your Member to sponsor the bill.
Did you miss the latest FairVote Reformer?
This month's FairVote Reformer was chock-full of news, analysis and links - don't miss it! And please join us in wishing our long-time board chair John B. Anderson a happy birthday -- the former Congressman and presidential candidate turned 89 on February 15th.