A new report by the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, titled, “America Goes to the Polls: A Report on Voter Turnout in the 2008 Election,” highlights the need for several FairVote reforms, including a national popular vote for president, greater uniformity in election administration, instant runoff voting, and universal voter registration. The authors recommend setting federal standards for running elections, introducing ranked choice voting to promote competition and implementing automatic voter registration, where Election Day Registration is a national standard. The report cites FairVote’s “Shrinking Battleground” series that tracks campaign visits and spending throughout the 2008 election cycle, concluding, “the winner-take-all and balkanized dynamics of the Electoral College have a negative impact on voter turnout.” In the forward, George Mason University Professor and Brookings Fellow, Dr. Michael P. McDonald, writes, “a national popular vote for president may hold the key to further increasing American voter participation.”[America Goes to the Polls]
[FairVote’s Shrinking Battleground]
[National Popular Vote for President]
[Professor McDonald’s U.S. Elections Project]
Recommended by Robert's Rules of Order for certain organizational
elections, instant runoff voting is used widely among organizations and
on campus, including organizations with tens of thousands of members like
the American Association of University Women, American Chemical Society,
American Medial Student Association, American Mensa and the American
Political Science Association. More than four dozen colleges and universities use
IRV for student elections.