From Visionary to Inevitable:
How to Uphold Voting Rights and Fix Broken Congressional Elections
Two Briefings Hosted by Krist Novoselic (Nirvana Bassist & FairVote Chair)
Friday, March 7, 2014
421 Cannon HOB
How to Uphold Voting Rights and Fix Broken Congressional Elections
Two Briefings Hosted by Krist Novoselic (Nirvana Bassist & FairVote Chair)
Friday, March 7, 2014
421 Cannon HOB
A Constitutional Right to Vote: The Promise of HJ Res 44, 1 - 1:45 PM
Despite the fact that voting is the most fundamental element of a representative democracy, the Constitution does not explicitly guarantee a right to vote. This critical omission places voting rights at risk and disenfranchises millions of American citizens. FairVote staff will discuss:
Our system of U.S. House elections undercuts leadership accountability, fails to ensure fair representation, and denies most voters a meaningful electoral voice. FairVote staff will discuss:
Speakers: Board chair Krist Novoselic, executive director Rob Richie, attorneys Drew Spencer and Rais Akbar, staff members Patricia Hart and Devin McCarthy
About FairVote: Guided by the principle that all voters should be able to participate meaningfully in every election, FairVote has been a voting rights and electoral reform leader since its founding in 1992 by former presidential candidate John Anderson and other reformers. FairVote gets at the heart of what ails our elections by researching and advocating systemic reform of our nation’s democracy, including the National Popular Vote plan for president, ranked choice voting (“instant runoff voting”), fair representation forms of proportional representation, and a right to vote in U.S. Constitution. (See its full 2020 reform agenda.) FairVote is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
Despite the fact that voting is the most fundamental element of a representative democracy, the Constitution does not explicitly guarantee a right to vote. This critical omission places voting rights at risk and disenfranchises millions of American citizens. FairVote staff will discuss:
- House Joint Resolution 44, the Pocan-Ellison amendment for an explicit right to vote, and FairVote’s analysis of its language and impact - outlined this June 2013 memo
- Supreme Court rulings on the Voting Rights Act and state voting rights protections
- Growing energy for local resolutions backing the amendment and exploring how best to protect, promote, and expand suffrage at organizational, campus, and local government levels
Our system of U.S. House elections undercuts leadership accountability, fails to ensure fair representation, and denies most voters a meaningful electoral voice. FairVote staff will discuss:
- The growing problems of redistricting and hardening partisanship, and the history of congressionalefforts to give voters more power and more balanced representation
- A groundbreaking new report, Monopoly Politics 2014 and the Fair Voting Solution, in which FairVote projects winners in 85% of 2014 House races and reveals the root causes of safe seats, partisan imbalance, and polarization
- FairVote's proposed statute to enact fair representation voting plans across the nation
Speakers: Board chair Krist Novoselic, executive director Rob Richie, attorneys Drew Spencer and Rais Akbar, staff members Patricia Hart and Devin McCarthy
About FairVote: Guided by the principle that all voters should be able to participate meaningfully in every election, FairVote has been a voting rights and electoral reform leader since its founding in 1992 by former presidential candidate John Anderson and other reformers. FairVote gets at the heart of what ails our elections by researching and advocating systemic reform of our nation’s democracy, including the National Popular Vote plan for president, ranked choice voting (“instant runoff voting”), fair representation forms of proportional representation, and a right to vote in U.S. Constitution. (See its full 2020 reform agenda.) FairVote is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
Rob Richie
Executive Director, FairVote
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 610
Takoma Park, MD 20912
[email protected] (301) 270-4616 http://www.fairvote.org
Executive Director, FairVote
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 610
Takoma Park, MD 20912
[email protected] (301) 270-4616 http://www.fairvote.org
