In a representative democracy, the right of decision belongs to the majority, but the right to representation belongs to all. FairVote advocates for adoption of proportional voting systems for local and state elections, and for an informed debate about their merits for congressional elections.
San Jose Mercury News Endorses Full Representation to Solve Gerrymandering Problem
Editorial board also supports IRV for California elections
After convening a panel of redistricting reform experts, the San Jose
Mercury News editorial board concluded that if improving elections and
the quality of representation is the goal, California needs multimember
districts with proportional voting. The paper recognized that an
independent redistricting panel would protect minority rights, make
districts compact, and not split cities or communities, but ultimately
found that it would not go far enough. The Mercury News also endorsed
instant runoff voting, citing its recent successful use in San
Francisco.
[Read the editorial] [More on multimember districts in CA] |
Davis to Consider Choice Voting
UC Davis Students Influential in Decision
On March 7, the City of Davis Governance Taskforce voted 8-1 to recommend choice voting for City Council elections. The taskforce will present a report to Davis City Council on April 5. If the council accepts the findings, the citizens of Davis will get to have their say on choice voting in a ballot measure. The choice voting campaign has attracted widespread support
from the community, as well as from University of California -- Davis
students. UC Davis already uses choice for student government
elections. |
FairVote Analyzes Schwarzenegger's Redistricting Plan
As national attention turns to California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger's plan to replace the state's partisan gerrymandering
system with an independent redistricting commission, FairVote seeks to
highlight beneficial elements of the plan, as well as ways to improve
upon it.
We applaud the governor for highlighting no-choice elections in California and hope to broaden the discussion to include additional considerations -- indeed we need far more action on reforming redistricting in Congress and in states around the nation. Over time we have consistently backed non-partisan
redistricting criteria, but we believe the process should not end
there, as competitive races and increased representation of women and
communities of color requires more than just a neutral line-drawing
process. |