Earlier this month, FairVote released the first draft of its report investigating the political effects of Hurricane Katrina. While some studies have examined the effect of population displacement on New Orleans alone, this is the first of its kind to consider the entire southern portion of the state. FairVote will update its projections as numbers emerge.
Findings address racial representation, Voting Rights Act liability, partisan balance of power and effect on the "one person, one vote" principle. By merging affected areas into one five-member superdistrict using the one-vote system, Louisiana could remedy each of the above problems.
[Ongoing analysis; download the report and fact sheet]
[FairVote op-ed in the Washington Post]
[More on the superdistrict concept]
[More on the one-vote system/limited voting]
[Louisiana Voter Bill of Rights - download .pdf 83 KB]
[Louisiana Absentee Voter Bill of Rights - download .pdf 168 KB]
In
the national legislative election held on January 25th, Hamas won 76 of
132 seats, or 58%, compared to 43 seats, or 33%, for the governing
Fatah party. Palestine used a parallel system, electing 66 of 132
seats in multimember districts and 66 on a national list basis. Hamas won 30 of
the national list seats, or 45%, while Fatah won 27, or 41%.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike are citing the need for
broad reforms, such as proportional voting, to overhaul the state's
broken electoral system. Members of the California Assembly plan to
introduce legislation in 2006 that would create a representative body
of 80 citizens from all over the state to study
election problems. The citizens would make recommendations that would either be adopted
legislatively or submitted as a ballot initiative to face voters.