One-Two Punch Lands Squarely on Winner Take All Presidential Elections

North Carolina and California Senates Pass National Popular Vote

In an exciting electoral double-whammy, the National Popular Vote bill passed the State Senate in both North Carolina and California on May 14, 2007.

California's SB 37 was approved by the Senate Committee on Elections, Redistricting, and Constitutional Amendments on March 21, 2007, and passed on final reading by a vote of 22-14. North Carolina's SB 954 passed by a vote of 30-18. Eyes now turn to the House in both states.

In little over a year since its kick-off, the NPV bill has demonstrated some fancy footwork, passing a total of 10 legislative chambers. The number of legislative supporters has also continued to grow, recently surpassing 350 sponsors in 47 States.

[ AP Story on North Carolina ]
[ Charlotte Observer story ]
[ More on National Popular Vote ]
[ NPV in the Harvard Journal on Legislation (.pdf) ] NEW!

Big Week for IRV

Three Legislative Advances and an Important Endorsement

The week of May 7th, 2007, was a big week for IRV across the country. The Illinois Senate approved legislation that would adopt ranked ballots for military and overseas voters. The Vermont House Government Operations Committee approved a bill, already approved by the Senate, to adopt IRV for U.S. Senate and House races in Vermont. In California, the Assembly Appropriations Committee approved legislation that would give local governments the option of using IRV.

In other exciting news, former Illinois congressman John Porter of the Brookings Institution's Opportunity '08 project released a position paper promoting IRV as a means to encourage voter participation.

[ Opportunity '08 election reform factsheet ]
[ Opportunity '08 position paper by John Porter ]
[ Coverage of the Illinois legislation ]
[ Op-Ed from the Vermont League of Women Voters president ]