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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
San JoseAfter 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.

[More on choice voting in Davis, CA]



FairVote Analyzes Schwarzenegger's Redistricting Plan
Governor SchwarzeneggerAs 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.

[Read Steven Hill's NYT Commentary on CA Redistricting]



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Recent Articles
October 19th 2009
A better election system
Lowell Sun

Election expert Doug Amy explains how choice voting can "inject new blood" into the elections of Lowell (MA), and give voters a greater incentive to participate.

October 16th 2009
Haven't Detroit voters spoken enough?
Livingston Daily

In Detroit, there have been three mayors in the past two years and the current one has come under scrutiny. Perhaps a system like instant runoff voting will help bring political stability to motor city.

August 21st 2009
Black candidate for Euclid school board to test new voting system
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Limited voting, a form of proportional voting, will be used in Euclid (OH), in the hopes of allowing better representation of minorities.

July 2nd 2009
Reforming Albany
New York Times

FairVote's Rob Richie responds in a letter to the editor making the case for proportional voting systems to bring substantive reform to New York's legislature.