Robert Richie - Executive Director
Robert RichieAn expert on international and domestic elections and electoral reform, Rob Richie has directed FairVote since its founding in 1992. Among his activities at FairVote, Richie has:

* been a guest on many radio and television programs, including C-SPAN, NBC News, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NPR's "Talk of the Nation", "All things Considered" and "Fresh Air" and been a frequent source for print, radio and television journalists;

* published commentary in such publications as New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Roll Call, Nation, National Civic Review, Boston Review, Christian Science Monitor and Legal Times;

* co-authored two books, Every Vote Equal (2006) and Whose Votes Count (2001) and had his writings appear in seven other books;

 * Spoken to scores of organizations, including at the annual conventions of the American Political Science Association, National Association of Counties, National Association of Secretaries of state, Unitarian Universalists and National Conference of State Legislatures and to the Voting Section of the U. S. Department of Justice, the Lincoln Day dinners of the Alaska Republican Party in Juneau and Anchorage and several groups of foreign dignitaries through the United States Information Agency;

 * Worked with congressional and state legislative staff in writing numerous pieces of legislation;

 * Testified in special sessions before charter commissions in cities in New York, Florida, Ohio, Texas and Michigan and before state legislative committees in Alaska, Vermont, Virginia and Washington;

 * Helped organize eight well-attended national conferences on electoral system reform and worked with hundreds of state reformers supporting fair election methods;

 * Toured New Zealand at the invitation of electoral reformers during a successful referendum campaign in that country in 1993 to adopt a proportional voting system; and

* edited FairVote's publications, such as its bi-annual analyses of congressional elections that have received prominent news coverage around the nation.

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1962, Richie graduated from Haverford College with a B.A. in philosophy in 1987. Before co-founding FairVote and becoming its director in 1992, he worked for three winning congressional campaigns in Washington state and for non-profit organizations in Washington and the District of Columbia.  He is married to Cynthia Terrell and is the father of three children: Savanna, Lucas and Rebecca.

You can reach Rob Richie at: rr (AT) fairvote (DOT) org

See and Hear Rob Richie on the Air

Articles by Rob Richie
September 26th 2005
A Vote For All Panel Wants Universal Registration, Revamped Primaries
Hartford Courant

In a commentary, FairVote's Rob Richie and Steven Hill praise the Carter Baker Commission's embrace of universal voter registration, but warn that a broader agenda is still needed.

July 27th 2005
The unfair power of the primaries
Newark Star-Ledger

Rob Richie and Ryan O'Donnell make the case for a better system of presidential primaries that gives all states a fair say on who a party's nominee will be.

April 10th 2005
National Guidelines Needed to Ensure Fair House Districts
San Jose Mercury News

FairVote's Rob Richie and John Anderson call for national redistricting standards to prevent the looming state-by-state

March 14th 2005
How to Have Clean and Complete Voter Rolls
Knight Ridder Tribune

FairVote's Rob Richie and New America Foundation Fellow Steven Hill argue that millions of eligible voters are not registered - the U.S. government should work towards clean and complete voter rolls by actively registering all U.S. citizens.

February 24th 2005
San Francisco's Innovation in Democracy- Instant Runoff
Chrisitan Science Monitor

Rob Richie and Steven Hill's opinion piece on Instant Runoff Voting in San Francisco in the Christian Science Monitor discusses the deeper problems in American elections.

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