Electoral reform in the United States

Electoral reform in the United States refers to efforts to change American elections and the electoral system used in the United States.

The U.S. uses a single member district plurality system to elect the members of its lower legislative house, the U.S. House of Representatives. Every ten years, after a census, the two major parties have a redistricting fight to determine the boundaries of these districts, and to protect the seats of incumbents. As a result, turnover in the House is low. Democratic representation is also quite low, because under a two-party system with single member districts elected with winner-take-all, any outside challenger would become a spoiler. Both parties have made efforts to gerrymander these districts using computer-generated maps designed to protect incumbents' seats; partially as a result of this, turnover in this house is typically low. The United States Senate and the U.S. President are also elected using the plurality system, although these positions are safe from gerrymandering (with the possible exception of presidential races in Maine and Nebraska, whose electoral votes are partially allocated by Congressional district) due to the fixed borders of states.

Proposals for electoral reform have included abolishing the U.S. Electoral College or nullifying its impact through the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact; implementing Instant Runoff Voting; and electing members of Congress by Single Transferable Vote; improving Ballot access for third parties; among others. The U.S. Constitution gives states wide latitude to determine how elections are conducted, although some details, such as the ban on poll taxes, are mandated at the federal level.

Advocates for electoral reform

FairVote is a non-profit organization based in Takoma Park, Maryland, whose mission is to achieve universal access to participation, a full spectrum of meaningful ballot choices and majority rule with fair representation for all. Formerly the Center for Voting and Democracy, it supports a constitutionally protected right to vote, universal voter registration, a national popular vote for president, instant-runoff voting and proportional representation. It provides information to the public about the impact of voting systems on political representation and voter turnout, issues reports on legislative redistricting and competition in U.S. congressional elections and seeks to initiate greater cooperation and coordination among pro-democracy organizations through the Democracy SoS Initiative. The executive director and founder is Robert Richie.

Policy analyst Michael E. Arth is one of the leading advocates for electoral reform in the United States. Arth ran for the office of Florida governor in 2010 (initially as a Democrat, and later as No Party Affiliation with this as his major platform. Arth said that it is rare for candidates, or any politician to advocate for electoral reform because it threatens the power structure, which is strongly influenced by special interests opposed to democratic change. Depending on the depth of the reform, it would also threaten the two-party system. Arth supports FairVote's agenda, but also advocates for what he calls "pre-voting," in order to determine whether a candidate makes a ranked choice ballot and what his or her ranking would be. Pre-voting, with publicly financed micro-payments, would occur during the campaign. The amounts involved would not be enough to finance ads, signage, bumper stickers, or any of the usual campaign marketing. Instead, candidates would be required to debate and they would be provided with websites where they would be required to post all pertinent information. No paid lobbyists, 527 organizations or political action committees would be allowed. Arth writes that the U.S. cannot have good leaders or good public policy without first having electoral reform.

External links

• Electoral reform in the United States at the Open Directory Project
• Fair Vote's web site
• Arth campaign website with electoral reform issues