Kia Franklin

National Popular Vote: A Civil Rights Issue

By Austin Guest, On DMI Blog:

Every four years about this time of year, we hear the usual complaints about states like Iowa and New Hampshire and the super-sized influence they enjoy in deciding the presidential nomination for everyone else in the country. But we never hear quite enough about the far more outlandish distortion of democracy foisted on us by the Electoral College.

...As is unfortunately the case with so many aspects of our electoral system, it is people of color who wind up disenfranchised and underrepresented. Since most non-white voters (79% of African Americans and 81% of Latinos according to a report from FairVote.org) are concentrated in pre-decided “red” or “blue” states, their districts rarely see a dime of campaign spending. As a result, voter turnout in these districts lags almost 10% behind turnout in swing states.

Recent studies show the problem is only getting worse. Read full article

Kia Franklin: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 1:23 PM, Feb 04, 2008 in
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