Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional comments from FairVote's Rob Richie.
For the second cycle in a row, Minnesota has outperformed all other states when it comes to competition, voter participation and voter representation in U.S. House elections, according to the election reform advocacy group FairVote.
While Minnesota claimed the top spot in the “Dubious Democracy” rankings, nine other states also received an A, including three more in the Midwest: Wisconsin (second highest score), Michigan (tied for 5th) and Iowa (tied for 7th). Ten states earned an F, with Hawaii scoring the lowest.
Voters in states with higher grades are more likely to influence the outcome of an election, but the overall data demonstrates a lack of competition for congressional seats, according to FairVote.
“For three decades now, we’ve shown that elections for the ‘people’s house’ are deeply flawed. In our dubious democracy, more voters than ever are trapped in one-party districts where their voices aren’t heard and their votes don’t make a difference,” said Rob Richie, the group’s resident and CEO. “Whether it’s gerrymandering or simply a state’s strong tilt towards one party, the lack of competition in general elections discourages voters and hurts American democracy.”
FairVote, which has been conducting the study since 1994, found that only one-third of congressional races were decided by 10 points or less in 2020 while the average margin of victory in contested elections was 28 points.
The report also points out that while, nationally, Democrats’ share of the House vote matches their slim majority, the same doesn’t hold true in many states:
“States with three or more Representatives had a median partisan skew of 17%. States with large partisan skews include Utah, where Republicans earned 100% of seats but only 61% of votes, and New Jersey, where Democrats earned 83% of seats with only 57% of votes,” the report states.
States were measured in five categories: average margin of victory, percentage of races won by at least 20 points or uncontested (dubbed a “landslide”), the rate of voter participation, the percentage of voters who supported the victorious candidates (“voter consensus), and difference between share of seats and share of votes (“partisan skew”).
According to Richie, the nature of U.S. election systems prevents any one state from dominating across all categories, regardless of party control.
"Within the confines of winner-take-all voting rules, it's impossible for any one state to perform well on all the virtues of what we would want in a truly healthy representative democracy," he said. "But those assuming that Democrats will lead on policies designed to lift up voters should keep New York’s low ranking in mind. Despite recent progress, it remains far behind most states in creating voter access, embracing voter choice and valuing fair representation. That all contributes to its 44th-place ranking."
While Minnesota did not lead in any of the individual categories, it was among the top 10 in four of them, including winning the second spot for voter turnout.
Compared to other states, Minnesota has higher voter turnout grounded in years of best practices. It also tends to have relatively competitive House races and relatively balanced representation of the major parties," said Richie. "As a result, more Minnesotans' votes make a difference, but it's all relative — nearly 40 percent of Minnesota's House races are landslides or uncontested, and the average margin of victory in House races is 19 percent. That's hardly the competition we should have for every seat in the 'people's House.'"
Hawaii, meanwhile was among the worst for turnout. Its best performance was in the margin of victory category, coming in 38th.
"Hawaii encapsulates many of the problems with our winner-take-all system. Because of its political geography, its House races aren't competitive; also, its state legislature is nearly completely represented by one party," Richie explained. "Too many voters feel like their vote doesn't matter, and they don't turn out. That's a big part of why Hawaii ranks number 49 in voter turnout and in the bottom half of all of the 'Dubious Democracy' measures."
FairVote believes the solutions it advocates would give more voters a voice in more states.
“To provide real choices and improve representation for all of us, we need to pass the Fair Representation Act and move to multi-member congressional districts with fair elections based on ranked choice voting,” Richie said.
The Fair Representation Act would require that congressional districts be created by independent commissions, rather than legislators, and that members of Congress be elected proportionally so the views of more voters are represented.
To achieve proportional representation, elections would use ranked-choice voting, in which voters can rank multiple candidates. Through an instant runoff, candidates with the least support are eliminated and ballots supporting removed candidates are redistributed to voters’ next choice, until those with the most support are elected.
RCV advocates believe the system will create better representation and lead to more civil campaigns because candidates will need to appeal to more voters in order to get those second and third spots on the ballots.
The Fair Representation Act was introduced in June 2021 by Democratic Rep. Don Beyer. All seven of his cosponsors are also Democrats.
Old engraved illustration of Ulysses defying the Cyclops.
Odysseus Reimagined: Nolan’s Epic Explores What Makes a True Hero
Who is a hero? More importantly: what is a hero? What attributes are universally admired, inspiring glorious stories, ballads and songs, memorials and movies, all chronicling the hero’s bold adventures?
The Odyssey, a new release written and directed by Christopher Nolan, attempts to answer that question. Based on the ancient tales The Iliad and The Odyssey, written by Homer around 800 BC, the film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus and Anne Hathaway as Penelope, his loyal wife.
Historians have puzzled over the “Homeric question,” that is, who was Homer? We know very little about him, not even when or where he was born; seven Greek cities lay claim to him as their native son. Yet, he is considered the “godfather” of national Greek culture, and his stories are among the earliest masterpieces of literature.
Homer is sometimes romanticized as a blind poet who wandered from town to town reciting his stories. But he, who could express so poignantly the tribulations of Odysseus, was not blind to human nature. He keenly wrote of the attributes as well as the paltriness in his characters and the flaws of his great hero, Odysseus.
The Iliad is the story of the final years of the Trojan War, sparked when Helen, the beautiful wife of Sparta’s King Menelaus, was kidnapped by Paris of Troy. Because the kings had initiated a pact to defend one another, Odysseus was drawn into the fray.
After spending ten years fighting the Trojan War and finally achieving victory, The Odyssey tells of Odysseus’s struggle to return to his kingdom, Ithaca. On his way home, he encounters many dangers and delays. He is pursued by the sea-god Poseidon, must surmount Circe’s spell, and overcome the seductive charms of the enchantress Calypso, and his journey takes him another ten years.
Odysseus’s desires and struggles are universal: his longing for home, yearning for an end to his troubles, for rest after a long and difficult journey. His difficulties reflect the immemorial questions of what it means to be loyal, to belong, what it means “to be” at all. Despite his hubris, which manifests in his propensity to court catastrophe without regard for consequences, Odysseus is an authentic hero, noble and admirable, brave and dedicated.
According to the Greek ideal, a true hero must possess physical excellence and moral virtue. He must, as well, embrace his civic duty. Achieving such status requires “paideia,” a good education; “sophrosyne,” moderation in maintaining physical and emotional balance; and “arete,” an allegiance to the state.
Fictional or real, heroes’ deeds resonate through the centuries and shine a light on what is best in humanity, what matters, what will live on despite our mortality.
Is our digital age really so different from Homer’s Bronze Age? Physical beauty is still adulated, as it was then with Helen of Troy, “the face that launched a thousand ships.” (Marlowe) Power is still king, and wealth is still power.
The years of the Trojan War were harsh and violent. But were they more brutal than the times we live in? Although millenniums have passed and we now have different battlefields, Palestine, Ukraine, Iran, etc., the ravages and the wages of war remain the same: death and suffering. Humanity’s currency is the same, and so, too, is our quest for heroes.
Social scientists claim that after three generations most people are forgotten by even their direct progeny, and after four, remembered only by historical records. So, what then does last? What makes a difference? What is truly beautiful and worthwhile in life?
The universal themes embodied and emboldened by our heroes throughout the ages, the faithfulness of their hearts and the courage of their deeds, these last.
The essential qualities of a hero are manifested in Homer’s Odysseus. Steadfast integrity: “Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.” His deep compassion: “Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow for others’ good, and to melt at others’ woes.” (Both quotes from The Odyssey.)
Nolan’s movie may have created a more virtuous hero than Homer’s works, but the core of the nearly 3,000-year-old-story is intact and as crucially relevant today as it was then. It is the stuff of life: trauma, survival, relationships with others, finding oneself, deciding what is right, choosing a path forward, sometimes, ultimately leading to the honing of a hero.
Just as Odysseus braved storms, temptations, and trials in search of home, we too face a modern sea of civic turbulence, polarization, mistrust, and the fraying of our shared story.
As we live, we too will write our defining stories. How then might we become modern heroes?
By instigating the third Greek ideal of “arete”; embracing our civic duty. By becoming citizens who are open to reflection and debate, who are willing to act with purpose for the betterment of our nation.
In this journey, the work of renewing our democracy can be its own Odyssey, a voyage calling for integrity, courage, and steadfast commitment. Not to return home as Odysseus so desired, but to preserve our home, for the grand and worthwhile purpose of working toward an ever-better future for our country.
With others, we can shape the next chapter of our nation’s collective story.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."