Year End Report, 2000
Looking Back, Looking
Forward: Next
Steps After the Post-Election
Whirlwind
The Center for Voting and
Democracy�s executive director Rob Richie recently prepared for
supporters of the Center a report on its work in 2000 and plans for
2001. John B. Anderson, the President of the Center, provided a
short introduction to the year end
report. If you would like to support
the work of our Center, please send a tax-deductible
contribution to 6930 Carrol Ave. Suite 901, Takoma Park MD
20912 or give
online. Thanks for your interest and support.
Message from John B. Anderson, President of the
Center for Voting and Democracy
What
a remarkable moment for reform!
The
attention we received from media, civic groups and elected
officials during the controversial ballot-count in Florida was
simply an exclamation point -- albeit a powerful one -- to a
year that has demonstrated just how far "alternative" election
methods have moved into the mainstream of American debate and
policy-making. Rob Richie's following report provides details
about this year's important advances.
It
couldn't have happened without the support of our members --
not only through financial contributions, but through the
truly remarkable volunteer energy and innovation that sustains
our outreach in so many ways. From Anchorage to Boston, from
Los Angeles to Minneapolis, our members' devotion to
modernizing American democracy to make it fair and accountable
for everyone is an ongoing spur to our activities. We thank
them and ask for their continued support. Thank
you! | Year End Report from Rob
Richie, Executive Director
When stepping back from our
current whirlwind of daily activity to write this report, I asked
myself how to best convey the array of opportunities before us. A
simple catalogue alone cannot communicate the sense of energy and
possibility that underlies our work with supportive elected
officials,
public interest group representatives and journalists, but here are
a few snapshots since the November elections.
Election
Day 2000 - In
California voters in Oakland and San Leandro
adopted instant runoff voting charter amendments -- making it an
option in San Leandro and enacting it to fill vacancies in
Oakland.
| I was a
guest on both CNN and National Public Radio's Fresh Air,
while for the fourth time C-SPAN aired our recent news conference
on the elections and the state of our democracy (an August news
conference was aired by C-SPAN six times). | | Our web
site (www.fairvote.org -- please visit it today if you haven't had
a chance!) received a record number of hits. Interest was sparked
by: several articles on non-competitive congressional elections in
Slate and on wire services like Reuters and Gannett that
feature our analyses; by widespread coverage of our youth essay
contest; and by many newspaper commentaries by our Center -- board
members John Anderson, Matthew Cossolotto, Hendrik Hertzberg and
George Pillsbury, staff members Steven Hill, Eric Olson, Caleb
Kleppner and myself and several of our members wrote op-eds that
received prominent placement in such publications as
USA Today, New Yorker, Nation, New York
Times, Washington Post, Progressive, In These Times, Roll
Call and the leading dailies in Amarillo, Austin, Baltimore,
Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, Juneau, Miami,
Minneapolis, Providence, Raleigh, San Francisco, Seattle and many
more. | | In one
of our regular email newsletters that instantly reach thousands,
we highlighted key election facts and draw attention to recent web
site additions, including new reports on redistricting, youth
turnout, proportional voting systems and congressional
elections.
The Media
Deluge
- Debate
about the close election, the Electoral College and
ballot-counting triggered intense media interest in the Center.
Deputy director Eric Olson, field staff Steven Hill and Caleb
Kleppner and I handled a steady stream of inquiries -- doing
television (interviews on Fox, CNN, Maryland Public Television,
more), radio (NPR's Talk of the Nation, Canadian
Broadcasting, BBC, ABC, Voice of America, Democracy Now, many
more) and countless print interviews (Wall Street Journal,
National Journal, US News and World Report, Los Angeles Times
and Chicago Tribune are among the many publications
quoting the Center).
| In
response to our outreach, commentators promoted reforms. The
St. Petersburg Times (FL) and Trenton Times (NJ)
wrote long editorials in support of instant runoff voting.
Clarence Page, Lani Guinier and William Raspberry highlighted
proportional systems in nationally syndicated columns. Radio
commentators Paul Jacob and Jim Hightower touted instant runoff
voting, and four writers in the Nation's post-election
issue advocated voting system reforms.
Jumping on the
Bandwagon
Media
coverage is a great start, but for reform movements to succeed, they
must convince established political players to advance their ideas.
Our outreach efforts over the years are bearing fruit. For
example: - U.S.
PIRG launched a web site touting instant runoff voting, and
invited me to speak this month at their national conference with
hundreds of state directors and organizers. Common
Cause drew attention to instant runoff voting in a
post-election news release.
| Spurred
on by the energetic outreach of several of our members, the
League of Women Voters voted to launch
a national study on election systems -- its first national study
in a decade and one building on current studies in California,
Illinois and Washington.
| | The
Alaska Republican Party made instant runoff
voting its top legislative priority, and supporters collected
enough signatures to place on the November 2002 ballot a measure
to adopt IRV for most state and federal elections -- including the
presidential race. | | In
Congress, Democrat Peter DeFazio and Republican Jim Leach
introduced legislation (HR 5631) to study the full range of
electoral reforms, including proportional representation and
instant runoff voting. State representatives and
city councilmembers from across the nation expressed
interest.
Building for the
Long-Term
In the
midst of this post-election blizzard of interest, we continued to
build for the long-term. - I
travelled to Duke to speak to students for the 5th consecutive
year, to New Jersey's Eagleton Institute to speak on redistricting
and to Atlanta to lead a workshop on proportional systems and
voting rights.
| Articles
on proportional systems by CVD staff were featured in Social
Policy and in two influential periodicals produced by the
Southern Regional Council and Poverty and Race Research Action
Council. | | John
Anderson's lecture on "Beyond Spoilers and the Evil of Two
Lessers: The Real Lessons of the 2000 elections" drew nearly 300
in New York City. | | Steven
Hill's Arizona trip led to meetings and presentations with local
leaders in Phoenix, Tempe and Tucson and to a national meeting of
elected officials. | | Eric
Olson led a workshop on redistricting at the National League of
Cities annual conference and reported that the Center's literature
was quickly swept up by elected officials hungry for information
in the wake of Lani Guinier's keynote speech touting proportional
systems and the Center.
From Interest to
Action
Eric
Olson and I work in the national office, while Steven Hill and Caleb
Kleppner continue to direct operations in the west and on instant
runoff voting. But to capitalize on the rise in interest and energy,
we have brought new talent into the organization. - In
November, special projects manager Ana Aguilar joined our office
-- we also have had the fortune of working with ten excellent
interns this year.
| Retiring
Vermont state legislator Terry Bouricius was hired in November as
our New England Regional Director. In Vermont, key civic groups
and this year's three major candidates for governor endorsed
instant runoff voting for statewide
elections.
| | Our
final November addition was national field director Dan
Johnson-Weinberger. Dan is assisting the burgeoning number of
state and local activists in planning reform efforts. He focuses
in particular on Illinois, where there is deep, cross-partisan
support for bringing back cumulative voting for state legislative
elections -- for
reasons involving better policy-making, representation and
cooperation among legislators that have powerful resonance for
other states.
Looking
to 2001
I am
excited about the new year. Here are just a few examples of our
abundant opportunities. |
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