Election reform and changes to the Constitution


By Rob Richie
Published April 30th 2006 in The Denver Post
Both Tara Ross (April 24 Open Forum) and Jim Riley ("Presidential election reform: The current system works," April 23 Perspective pro-con) are wrong to suggest the national popular vote proposal recently passed by the Colorado senate to improve presidential elections is not in the spirit of the U.S. Constitution.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Our constitutional framers explicitly delegated to states the power to decide how best to allocate presidential electors. It took decades for most states to settle on allocating electoral votes to the statewide vote winner.

Rather then restrict states' options, our framers gave states the power to decide what's best for their people. Today it is in the interests of all Americans to have a national popular vote for president where every vote is equal. Ross and Riley might want to change the Constitution, but most prefer statutory changes first.

Rob Richie
Executive Director
FairVote, The Center for Voting and Democracy
Takoma Park, Md.

IRV Soars in Twin Cities, FairVote Corrects the Pundits on Meaning of Election Night '09
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers.  Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections;  the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.

And as pundits try to make hay out of the national implications of Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections, Rob Richie in the Huffington Post concludes that the gubernatorial elections have little bearing on federal elections.

Links