Thursday, July 7, 2011

Cure for the common redistricting partisanship

From FairVote.org: Curing Our Democracy: The Toxic Combination of Partisan Redistricting and Presidential Electoral Vote Allocation Part II: The Redistricting Connection and the Pitfalls of the District-Based Electoral Vote System

Electoral vote splitting by congressional district and partisan redistricting has the potential to be a toxic concoction to a properly functioning democracy. Without independent redistricting, the current system allows state legislators the opportunity to poison the political chances of their opponents, and even infect the race for the presidency. In addition, some proposed drugs, such as winner-take-all rules, are worse than the illness, leading presidential candidates to completely ignore large segments of voters and entire states. 
There are remedies though. The National Popular Vote plan would make every vote worth campaigning for in a presidential race, and multimember districts with proportional voting would help foster fair elections and fair representation. It's time for the country to get serious about taking its medicine.

This is the conclusion of a well-written article, a critical examination and cure for a very sick-- a very partisan-- electoral system.

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