FairVote Interview with Neal Peirce

Leading Electoral College Commentator Emphasizes Need for National Popular Vote

FairVote's Presidential Elections Reform program director Chris Pearson talked with Neal Peirce, a prominent Washington journalist, Presidential scholar and advocate for the direct election of the president.

[Read the full interview]

American Plan Gains Momentum

Presidential Primary Schedule Badly in Need of Reform

FairVote's favorite presidential primary reform plan - The American Plan - gained momentum this week as California Democratic Party chair Art Torres mentioned the plan at the DNC Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling. The commission is unlikely to support such a sweeping change but the fact that commissioner Torres brought the plan to their attention bodes well for its future.

FairVote's executive director Rob Richie recently spoke to former Republican Senator Bill Brock. He chaired a 1999 RNC commission that recommended adoption of a broad primary change called the Delaware plan. This plan, however, was never brought to a vote at the GOP's 2000 convention. Sen. Brock was interested in the American Plan and seemed to support any substantial change to the broken system in place today.

Stay tuned as FairVote and other primary reform activists continue to push for this important and substantial change, one that would give more voters a say in their party's presidential candidate.

[see details of The American Plan]

The Shrinking Battleground

New FairVote Report Rips Two-Tier Democracy in Presidential Elections

FairVote’s new report, The Shrinking Battleground: The 2008 Presidential Elections and Beyond, provides a devastating critique of the Electoral College and its impact on American politics. Fewer and fewer Americans play a meaningful role in electing their president, with a damaging impact on voter turnout, racial fairness and political equality.

FairVote released the report at the National Press Club last Thursday, July 28. Speakers at the press conference included FairVote’s executive director Rob Richie, 1980 independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson and Hendrik Hertzberg, writer for The New Yorker and chief White House speechwriter for Jimmy Carter in 1980.

[Read key findings]
[Download the report .pdf 301 KB]

DNC Commission Questions Presidential Nomination System

On July 16, FairVote's Chris Pearson attended a meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling to discuss possible reforms to the presidential nomination system. Currently, candidates concentrate time and money on the states with the earliest primaries, excluding the great majority of the country from the nomination process. In an attempt to undo this imbalance, many states have moved their primaries earlier and earlier. Most recently, New Jersey has shifted to late February.  

In 2000, the Republican Party examined its own nomination process, nearly adopting the “Delaware Plan.” This plan would set up a calendar with month-long gaps between primaries, and with each successive primary date including states with bigger populations.

FairVote's recommended proposal is the “American Plan” recently endorsed by the California Young Democrats. This plan combines random order with increasing population size and succeeds in balancing the interests of both large and small states, giving all states a fair shot at meaningful impact in the nomination process.
 
[Read more about New Jersey's primary change]
[The American Plan]