RANKED CHOICE VOTING GETS SHOT IN THE ARM

In a story that was first published on FairVote's blog, Rob Richie looks at the latest Primaries and how to Uphold Majority Rule.

Richie writes, "Next spring, states will start voting in primaries for the regularly scheduled congressional midterm elections in every state. On August 15, however, two states held primaries to fill vacancies -- for U.S. Senate in Alabama as the permanent replacement to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and for U.S House in Utah to fill Jason Chaffetz’ seat in the third congressional district."

Richie makes the case that the results help make the case for ranked choice voting (RCV) in two ways.  "First, as reported earlier this week by FairVote’s Myeisha Boyd, Alabama Republicans who live overseas have already cast RCV ballots that will be counted in the runoff. If the state extended that right to cast an RCV ballot to all primary voters, that 28% of voters who didn't vote for Moore or Strange could have ranked one of them second that would have saved the state money and time and maintained higher turnout than likely in the runoff. Second, Utah could uphold its tradition of primary winners earning more than half the votes by having the senate and governor join the house in backing the RCV legislation."

In June, Maine will show what Ranked Choice Voting could mean for politics when it uses the system for the first time in primaries for its U.S. Senate, U.S. House, gubernatorial and state legislature.

CHAPPELLE-NADAL COULD BE FIRST MISSOURI SENATOR EXPELLED IN 70 YEARS

The pressure is growing for the removal of Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal after she called for the assassination of President Trump last Thursday in a Facebook post.

Several developments occurred Tuesday, that could either expedite Chappelle-Nadal's resignation, or carve a path for her expulsion from the Missouri Senate.

As noted in a story on IVN.us, the Senator was removed from 9 committees and Lt. Governor Mike Parson sent a letter to the Senate Majority leader, Mike Kehoe, to launch a special session where a vote could be taken to remove the Senator.

Although a sitting Senator in Missouri hasn’t been removed from office in more than 70 years, article III, Section 18 of the Missouri Constitution allows for her removal for calling for the assassination of President Trump. The section stipulates the following, “any person not a member, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house by any disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence during its sessions; may punish its members for disorderly conduct; and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all members elect, may expel a member; but no member shall be expelled a second time for the same cause.”

FUSION GPS CO-FOUNDER MEETS WITH SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Glenn Simpson, the man who co-founded the Washington, D.C. firm Fusion GPS, spent hours Tuesday with Congressional Investigators behind closed doors.

Fusion GPS was the firm that produced a dossier of salacious allegations involving President Trump. Simpson's firm hired a British intelligence officer who produced the dossier.

After the meeting, Simpson's attorney Josh Levy, called the "investigation into Mr. Simpson a desperate attempt by the Trump campaign and its allies to smear Fusion GPS because of its reported connection to the Trump dossier."