California’s proposed billionaire wealth tax has become one of the most consequential policy debates in the nation. ...

At first glance, this feels like common sense. Voters walk into low-turnout municipal races and crowded primaries with almost no information. Beyond a party label – which is often meaningless in local governance – they are handed a list of names and told to decide. ...

The answer to today’s crowded field is not retreat. It is modernization. Instead of empowering party gatekeepers, we can empower voters with more choice, less vote splitting, and majority-supported outcomes....

As February wrapped up, it was reported that President Donald Trump had nominated two Republicans for the Federal Elections Commission after 10 months of the agency being unable to perform its basic functions....

On February 27, 2026, the better elections group Open Primaries released a sweeping public statement titled Declaration of Independents, framing the exclusion of independent voters from critical taxpayer-funded elections as the unfinished business of 1776....

It didn’t take long for our poll to get noticed not only in Sacramento, but all the way over on the East Coast where the New York Times featured it alongside other reputable pollsters like Emerson College and the Public Policy Institute of California. ...

Tune in for our independent breakdown of Trump’s record-length 2026 State of the Union: voter ID + proof of citizenship, immigration rhetoric, affordability vs “winning” messaging, a rare bipartisan beat on banning stock trading, and the moment the chamber unified around a Coast Guard rescue....

In his 2026 State of the State address, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced that he plans to call a special state legislative session in the Spring to put an end to partisan gerrymandering “once and for all.” And he will keep calling lawmakers into session until happens....

In this episode of the Independent Voter Podcast, we debate election integrity, voter suppression concerns, automatic voter registration through DMVs, and whether federalizing election rules undermines states’ rights under Article I of the Constitution. ...

California lawmakers convened a joint legislative oversight hearing on February 17 to examine concerns that unclear cannabis packaging rules are undermining youth protections....

The bill, introduced by Delegate Katrina Callsen, authorizes a permanent option for ranked choice voting expansion. This allows cities and counties to implement the reform for any and/or all of their elections, including mayoral elections....

Throughout this episode of the Independent Voter Podcast, the central theme remains clear: Americans broadly support common-sense reforms to strengthen election integrity and government accountability, but partisan strategy and fundraising incentives continue to stall meaningful change....