-- Spencer Overton, Professor of Law, George Washington University in Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression
"Independent election officials address conflict-of-interest problems, but they do little to integrate citizens into the process. While this shortcoming is largely practical (it is difficult to get fifteen million Californians into one room to determine where to draw district boundaries and which punch card ballots to count), states should establish regular citizen assemblies to allow for more involvement by average people.
"A citizen assembly would consist of a randomly selected group of average voters (much like a jury, but larger). The assembly would investigate election problems and hear testimony from citizens, political scientists, local and state politicians, and election administrators from other states and nations....The power of the citizen assembly would come largely from its credibility with the public - much like that of the 9/11 Commission that proposed intelligence and national-security reforms in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. If the assembly conducted an open and fair process, proposed reasonable reforms, and enjoyed extensive credibility with voters, politicians might be hesitant to vote against the reforms, and some might even champion them. The Canadian province of British Columbia has spearheaded the concept of citizen assemblies, and Australia and the United Kingdom have both influential bodies that make recommendations about election reforms."
-- Spencer Overton, Professor of Law, George Washington University in Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression
"Many Americans do not realize that we could institute proportional representation for most elections in the U.S. without amending the Constitution. In helping to educate the public about the potential for voting system reform, CVD can play a central role in a pro-democracy movement right here in America!"
-- John Anderson, National Chair, FairVote, 1980 Independent Presidential Candidate
"[W]e need to put the idea of proportionality at the center of our conception of representation."
-- Lani Guinier, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania in the Boston Review, Sept./Oct. 1992
"[PR] gives voters more choices and gives both the majority and the minority (or minorities) their fair share of representation ... without the ridiculous contortions of the gerrymanders forced by small, single-member districts."
-- Professor Kathleen Barber, member of the FairVote Advisory Board in the Cleveland Plains Dealer, 10/27/92
"There is no issue that is more sensitive to politicians of all colors and ideological persuasions than redistricting. It will determine who wins and loses for eight years."
-- Ted Arrington, political science chair, UNC-Charlotte quoted during Shaw v. Hunt trial, March 1994
"... we should recognize that our approach to splintering the electorate into racially designated single-member districts does not by any means mark a limit on the authority federal judges may wield to rework electoral systems under our Voting Rights Act jurisprudence.... Already, some advocates have criticized the current strategy of creating majority-minority districts and have urged the adoption of other voting mechanisms -- for example, cumulative voting or a system using transferable votes -- that can produce proportional results without requiring division of the electorate into racially segregated districts....nothing in our present understanding of the Voting Rights Act places a principled limit on the authority of federal courts that would prevent them from ... securing proportional representation based on transferable votes."
-- Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Scalia, in Holder v. Hall [United States Law Week, 6/28/94]
"As political pundits again discuss the depressing voter turn-out in the U.S., a system that can empower people must be seriously considered, and as feminists analyze our meager gains in the House and Senate, we believe that proportional representation may be the best way to build a government that is responsive to our issues."
-- Patricia Ireland, former president of N.O.W. endorses full representation as part of the feminist agenda
"[We now have] a flawed kind of democracy....[we need to] look at some way to get proportional representation...we should adopt some form of it."
-- Jerry Brown, former governor of California, Santa Rosa, California, 1/28/95
"My experiences in mobilizing voters to win and then keep a seat in Congress helped me see that the reason for our low voter turnout and restless electorate go beyond a lack of reform in our campaign finance and lobbying systems. Voter choices on election day are usually so limited that when Americans find themselves going to the polls, all too often it is to vote against a candidate rather than for one. In a multi-member district with proportional representation, voters would have a chance to choose among a range of viable candidates... PR would allow elections to be based on this reality, rather than the fallacy that Members speak only for the people in their districts."
-- Cynthia McKinney, Member of Congress
"Shareholders must learn to take full advantage of such corporate practices as cumulative voting, which permits the "singleshot" casting of all of a shareholder's ballots for one member of the board of directors. Delegations of stockholders can give visibility to the issues by lobbying against their company's ill-advised policies in many forums apart from the annual meeting-legislative hearings, agency proceedings, town meetings, and the news media, for example. These delegations will be in a position to expose company officers to public judgment, something from which executives now seem so insulated in their daily corporate activities."
-- Ralph Nader, The Progressive, April 1970