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Georgia voters returned to the polls on July 26 for a round of primary runoffs, where they were asked to choose between the top two vote-getters in any primary race where no candidate won a majority of the vote. Throughout this election season, FairVote has followed primary runoffs around the country and written about their many failings, including the enormous cost of one Alabama runoff and the dismal turnout for Texas’s runoffs. Unfortunately, Georgia’s July 26th contests appear to be another

This article is Part 2 in a two-part series reviewing Supreme Court ballot access decisions and the effects of the Court's precedents on independent and third party candidates. You can read Part 1 here. Munro v. Socialist Workers Party (1986) In 1986, the Court accepted a challenge to a Washington state ballot access provision. This provision required third party candidates to receive at least one percent of the vote in the state's blanket primary in order to appear on the general election ba

Green Party ballot access campaigns have had more success in 2016 than ever before, according to Rick Lass, Ballot Access Coordinator for the Jill Stein campaign. You can check out the Greens' infographic to see states turn green as each state's required signatures are submitted. So far, 43 states are green. Lass is sure that Greens will make it onto 44 state ballots, plus Washington, D.C. The only state so far, with no chance of turning green is South Dakota. Greens failed to gain ballot acce

Ballot Access in Historical Context Over the last several decades, the percentage of Americans who self-identify as independents has climbed to above 40 percent while attachment to the Democratic and Republican parties has declined. And in recent months, broad dissatisfaction with the presidential nominees of both parties has caused the public to look to third party and independent options to find candidates who better represent their views. Yet despite this shift in support, third party and i

There's an axiom in polling that goes back to 1936. If you expect to win the presidency, you'd better be polling well as September begins. Nobody really 'likes' to admit that polling is as good of a science as it is; it tends to undermine our sense of control and autonomy -- that less than 1,000 people polled can represent the population of 146 million or so voters in the United States. But that's the nature of statistics -- as well as the numbers being criticized for any number of reasons. B

As with past election cycles, third party and independent candidates – as well as initiatives aimed at reducing the power of the two major parties – are struggling to achieve access to general election ballots. In some cases, this is the result of general apathy toward specific parties, candidates, or reforms. In other cases, however, their exclusion from the ballot stems from a variety of causes, including minor technicalities, official ineptitude, constitutionally dubious legal barriers, and,

In what has been an election year unlike any other, things could become even more unusual. As we head toward the presidential debates, is it possible that we will see 3 candidates on the stage, not only 2? Let’s give it a reality check. While most media wants to talk about the increasing lead of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, they are missing a major part of the story. This is not a two party race, and for the first time since Ross Perot in 1992, we could actually see 3 presidential candida

In the weeks since the California primary, when Hillary Clinton joined Donald Trump in becoming her party’s presumptive nominee for president, FairVote has tracked both candidates’ campaign appearances. FairVote’s similar analysis in 2012 showed just how much the candidates focus on swing states that might tip the election with our current Electoral College rules. After the conventions in 2012, Barack Obama campaigned in a grand total of just eight states and Mitt Romney added only two more. The

A recent poll shows that presumptive nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have record-high unfavorability ratings: 55 percent and 70 percent, respectively. Yet despite their unpopularity, the general electorate may not be exposed to third party candidates as an alternative. This is largely a result of the rules governing who is included in the presidential debates. According to guidelines set by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a candidate must poll at 15 percent to be invited

Ever since the Chicago Daily Tribune's iconic blunder of projecting Thomas Dewey as the victor in the 1948 election, polling has evolved into a more precise science, one so accurate that scoffers and critics began to argue that the media was swaying public opinion through polls. Exit polling has always been crucial, especially during the days of newspapers with deadlines to meet, for the media to be able to project winners in a timely manner. But something has changed, and voters and viewers h