Election 2003
Analysis / Reserving Your Room for the Nov. 21-23 Conference /
Public Radio Specials
November 6, 2003
Greetings!
We trust that you have received information
about the remarkable conference "Claim Democracy: Securing,
Enhancing and Exercising the Vote" that will take place in
Washington, D.C. on November 21-23. Registrations keep pouring in,
with people from every region of the nation to be on hand. See the
wide range of speakers and events described at www.democracyusa.org.
In addition to
a broad range of substantive sessions on pro-democracy issues, we
are having lighter, if engaging fare, including an evening of
culture and politics on Friday evening at American University and a
Saturday evening event with the Blackout Arts Collective at the D.C.
Convention Center.. We also are holding a "Celebrate Democracy"
dinner with Common Cause on Saturday evening.
We you
hope those of you planning to attend can register. If you want
to take advantage of our $99 block of rooms (with two double-beds)
at a nearby hotel, you must act by this Friday, November 7th.
Details are at www.democracyusa.org
On the election
front, yesterday's elections in some states and many cities were
marked by.....
....a national draw in the partisan struggle
between the major parties. The Republicans picked up two
gubernatorial seats in Kentucky and Mississippi (part of an
intriguing "throw the bums out" spirit that has led a shift in
partisan control in 21 of the 38 states that have held gubernatorial
races in the last year), but Democrats took full control of
the New Jersey state legislature (bucking a five-decade trend of the
incumbent governor's party losing seats in mid-term elections),
gained seats in the Virginia legislature and won key mayoral
contests. The results do help underscore the partisan polarization
of the country reflected by the red/blue map of the 2000
presidential race -- although those partisan divisions are less
hard-wired in state races then in federal ones. Republicans now hold
9 of 11 gubernatorial mansions in the South.
.... mostly moribund
races in state legislative elections in Virginia, New Jersey,
Mississippi and Kentucky, as further indication of how gerrymandered
winner-take-all elections have suppressed most voter choice when we
elect legislatures. The decade's record remains intact of no state
legislative chamber changing partisan control if the redistricting
map was not drawn by a court or commission. In Mississippi and
Virginia, more than 98% of incumbents won. In Virginia, fewer than one in ten races were won by less than 10%,
and more than half of seats weren't even contested.
...
generally low turnout. Some states and cities had upward blips from
the last comparable election (such as Mississippi, where turnout
rose sharply from the 1999 gubernatorial race,but was lower
than 1995 turnout), while others saw declines. But no state or major
city apparently had turnout of more than half the adult population
--all too typical for us when our turnout hovers at 50% in our
presidential elections
.... ongoing snafus involving election
equipment and procedures that show we keep stumbling in our
necessary effort to modernize elections --adding an element of
uncertainty and likely controversy to the 2004 presidential race,
particularly with rising protest against electronic equipment that
lacks a paper trail
.... a surprising result in San
Francisco, where Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez, a strong
advocate of instant runoff voting, made the runoff in a hotly
contested mayoral race to succeed Willie Brown. The December runoff
that should have been avoided this year by IRV, which voters
approved in 2002, but IRV will have to wait until equipment is ready
in 2004. On the third party front, Letitia James of the
Working Families Party won by a big margin in a New York City
council race.
....former Ohio governor Jack Gilligan, now 82,
leading the field in his bid to be e-elected to the Cincinnati
school board
.... an overwhelming rejection of Mayor
Bloomberg's proposal for nonpartisan elections in New York City and
an apparent rejection of single-member districts in
Seattle
.... a smooth 26th city council election with the
choice voting form of full representation in Cambridge (Mass.).
Choice voting allows candidates to win one of nine seats with
support from about 10% of voters. Once again, the elected council
reflected the city's diversity.
Finally, Thursday, Nov. 6, I
will appear on Baltimore Public Radio WYPR (88.1 FM) on the Marc
Steiner show from noon to 1 pm. It is part of a special series of
programs airing on public radio stations across the country on
"Whose Democracy It It:" The Public Radio Collaboration is a
nationwide coalition of public radio stations and producers, working
together to create a national conversation about the health of
American democracy. The Collaboration has prepared a week of special
coverage on the air and online, Nov. 3-9. Check with your local
station for more complete details or go to http://www.npr.org/news/specials/democracy/index.html
Thanks
for reading!
Rob Richie, Executive Director The Center
for Voting & Democracy [email protected], www.fairvote.org
6930 Carroll
Avenue, Suite 610 Takoma Park, MD 20912 (301)
270-4616
"Make Your Vote
Count!"
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