Tag Archives: representation

Why is Utah’s turnout falling?

In the 1980s, Utah ranked in the top 10 for voter turnout; since 2006, Utah has ranked in the bottom 5. Why? Earlier today, I wrote about Utah’s declining turnout, and about claims made yesterday in a legislative committee that … Continue reading

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Cage match: Fred Cox and Janice Fisher

On close votes, Fred Cox and Janice Fisher disagree 57% of the time. Update: I produced a new “cage match” post in July 2012 comparing Cox and Fisher. I encourage you to read that one, as this one is now … Continue reading

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What do Romero and McAdams disagree on?

Looking across all 1,416 votes, Romero and McAdams disagreed only 64 times Ross Romero, the Democratic leader in Utah’s Senate, announced in September that he would run for Salt Lake County mayor.A few weeks later Ben McAdams, Romero’s Democratic colleague … Continue reading

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Do Wimmer and Sandstrom agree on everything?

Wimmer and Sandstrom have voted against each other 257 times We now have two Republican members of the state legislature planning to run against each other in the newly-created 4th Congressional district. It’s been clear for months that Carl Wimmer … Continue reading

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A new report on Utah’s nominating system

Do Utah’s election laws and practices allow “full opportunity” for people to become candidates and for “voters to express their choice?” This is a guest post by Morgan Lyon Cotti, Senior Research Analyst at the Utah Foundation. Utah Foundation released … Continue reading

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Are legislators faithful to their constituents?

The correlation between district partisanship and legislator ideology is not perfect, but it is nevertheless strongly positive. This analysis was performed by Robert Richards, a student research fellow at BYU’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, in collaboration … Continue reading

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Do we live in a “compound Constitutional Republic” or something else?

There are no uses of the phrase “compound constitutional republic” in any American English book from 1800 through 2000. Last March, the Utah legislature passed a bill (HB 220) requiring Utah’s public schools to teach that the United States is … Continue reading

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Which legislators miss the most votes?

Five legislators missed more than 30% of their votes in 2011. Yesterday, I wrote that Utah’s legislators skip a LOT of votes. On average, 7.1% of Representatives missed each vote during the 2011 session, and 14.4% of Senators missed each … Continue reading

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Are Utah’s legislators skipping votes?

Legislators are more likely to be absent than to vote “no.” A legislator’s most visible job is to cast votes in the legislature on behalf of his or her constituents, yet it turns out that Utah’s legislators miss a LOT … Continue reading

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What are the conflicts between representation and redistricting?

Certain segments of Utah’s political class advocate for a rural-urban mix for the new congressional districts. The argument sounds something like the following: “It would be horrible for Utah to not have all Congressional seats invested in both the rural … Continue reading

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