Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 132 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

What If the Teen City Council Is Better Than the Grownup One?

Kriston Capps

July 05, 2018 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Takoma Park, Maryland

Takoma Park’s youth council may be the most powerful teen legislature in the nation. The city was the first to lower the voting age to 16 years old, so council members are not only communicating youth perspectives but also voting in local elections.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Maine Tests a New Way of Voting, and Opts to Keep It

Daniel C. Vock

June 13, 2018 |

Governing |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Maine

After trying ranked-choice voting, citizens in Maine decided to keep the system, even fighting court battles on the issue. The system allows voters to rank candidates running for an office from most desirable to least desirable. This makes it possible for voters’ choices to be taken into account even if their top pick candidate falls out of the running in an election in which no candidate wins the majority of the vote outright.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The simple voting reform that raises turnout wherever it's tried

David Roberts

May 23, 2018 |

Vox |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Voting is easy when a ballot arrives in your mailbox. Vote-at-home increases turnout in all precincts and elections in which it’s available. It significantly outperforms all combinations of other innovations such as absentee ballots, early in-person voting, same-day registration and election-day registration.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The Flaw in America's 'Holy Grail' Against Gerrymandering

Sam Kean

January 26, 2018 |

The Atlantic |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

A statistic called the efficiency gap seems like a simple way to measure partisan gerrymandering. It’s easy to calculate and relies on actual election results, not hypothetical results, something called for back in 2004 and 2006 when alleged cases of gerrymandering were found by the U.S. Supreme Court to be too speculative to be ruled unconstitutional. However, the efficiency gap fails to account for key factors such as political geography, making it less of a silver bullet than originally hoped.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Putting the Voters in Charge of Fair Voting

Tina Rosenberg

January 23, 2018 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Michigan

Politicians across the country draw voting maps to favor their own political parties. In Michigan, a state with extreme congressional gerrymandering, voters are saying enough is enough. A nonpartisan group called Voters Not Politicians has collected 425,000 signatures in support of a ballot measure to create an independent commission to determine voting districts. The all-volunteer force gathered proposals at town hall meetings and spoke with voters at parades, football games, and even highway rest stops.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Ohio Is At the Center of a National Debate Over Drawing Political Lines

M.L. Schultze

December 22, 2017 |

WKSU |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Gerrymandered Congressional districts, drawn using evermore individualized voter data, are set up to tip elections across the United States. Lawmakers and voting advocates are pushing back and creating new methods of making the maps. From independent commissions to constitutional amendments, here’s what’s happening in California, Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, South Dakota and Utah.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Black Alabamians discuss their decisive role in Doug Jones' victory

Kira Lerner

December 13, 2017 |

ThinkProgress |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Birmingham, Alabama

In Alabama, grassroots organizing targeting black voters resulted in a huge voter turnout. “98 percent of black women voted for Jones (Tyson’s initial estimate was conservative) along with 93 percent of black men.” “Just calling, knocking on doors, talking to people face-to-face, letting them know why this campaign matters, I think that’s the reason we won.”

Read More
Go to Original Story
Gerrymander reform opens up Florida politics

Hedrick Smith

December 01, 2016 |

Sacramento Bee |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Orlando, Florida

For the third election in a row, House Republicans got bonus seats in 2016, through gerrymandering. Thanks to a grassroots citizen movement and computer sleuthing, Florida admitted to breaking the law and has replaced state maps with more competitive, voter-friendly districts.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Civic involvement, voting are priorities in Colorado

Matt Woolbright

November 19, 2016 |

Corpus Christi Caller Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Colorado recently passed a voter enfranchisement law that required register voters receive a ballot to vote by mail and several more options to vote in general. The mail ballots have greatly boosted voter turnout. Colorado now has about a 75 percent voter turnout rate, with some counties exceeding 80 and 90 percent.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Finding voter turnout solutions in Colorado

Matt Woolbright

October 24, 2016 |

Corpus Christi Caller Times |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Colorado employs a wide array of methods to increase voter turnout, and it pays off. The state is one of the country's most successful in terms of voter turnout, thanks to Election Day voter registration, mail-in ballots sent to every Colorado voter, drop off locations for mail-in ballots, and voter pre-registration for 16- and 17-year old residents.

Read More
Go to Original Story