Articles by Carson Bolter

Most Americans are familiar with the common Thanksgiving traditions. With a seat at a table filled with food and family, our turkeys, mashed potatoes, and gravy boats are all staples of a tradition. But what are some of the less traditional facts associated with Thanksgiving? 1. Thanksgiving on Alcatraz Since 1975, hundreds of members of indigenous tribes have met on Alcatraz Island for the "Unthanksgiving Day" ceremony at sunrise to commemorate the survival of American Indians following the ...

On Wednesday, November 18, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap certified the petition signatures gathered by The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV Maine) to put RVC on the 2016 ballot. The group obtained over 70,000 signatures in support of the initiative. The sole goal of the group is to implement ranked choice voting in all statewide elections in Maine. The committee argues that RCV would uphold majority rule and give voters a stronger voice in elections, as well as improve the elec...

Former U.S. Rep. Artur Davis was considering a run for the Montgomery County Commission seat as a Democrat. One might think that a citizen seeking public office has the right to associate with the political party of his or her choice. In Alabama, this is not the case. Alabama's Radney Rule prohibits a candidate from running as a Democrat if he or she did not support the party's nominees in the last four years. On October 16, Davis stood before the Executive Board of the Democratic Committee to ...

Voting with a touch of a finger has allowed us to conduct elections with greater ease, but the aging hardware of the electronic voting machines used in many states has caused security concerns to swell. There are countless demonstrations of gaping security holes in widely used voting machines. Changing the outcome of an election might be easy as "123" or "admin," considering those are some of the passwords used to secure voting machines. Other findings are equally as disturbing. During a secur...

On November 9, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed "The Democracy Act," a law that would expand early voting, establish online voter registration, implement election day registration and provisional voting, and automatically register citizens to vote that apply for a driver’s license. The Democracy Act (A-4613) was introduced in June, led by Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D) and Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (D). The proponents of the bill, including the League of Women Voters argue tha...

On November 3, the Maryland Redistricting Reform Commission proposed a plan that would allow an independent committee to draw legislative districts. Under Maryland’s current system, the governor and legislature decide how electoral districts are drawn, and the new commission would disallow any politician from participating. The plan was approved 9-1 by a commission appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan to determine a new method of drawing legislative districts. According to The Washington Post, Gov. H...

In South Dakota, a handful of 2016 ballot initiatives call for sweeping changes in the state's electoral system. Three amendments to the state's constitution have been proposed, detailing reforms to primary elections, political redistricting, and campaign finance laws. One amendment in particular would establish a nonpartisan open primary system similar to the primary elections used in Nebraska for state legislative races. This means that candidates running for any elected office do not run und...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4IsqmMqCEo Democratic candidate Lawrence Lessig declared Monday that he is dropping out of the presidential race. In a YouTube video posted to his channel, Lessig said, "I must today end my campaign for the Democratic nomination and turn to the question of how best to continue to press for  now" Lessig began his campaign running to be a "referendum president," an unconventional idea in American politics. The sole purpose was to promote and eventually pass the y...

On Thursday, October 29, news broke that former congressional candidate, Karen Mathews Davis, admitted that two death threats she received while running for Congress were fake. Under federal investigation and having failed a polygraph test, Mathews Davis confessed that she made the whole thing up. As reported on IVN, Mathews Davis allegedly received two threatening letters, one in 2013 and another in 2014, when she was running for California's 9th Congressional District. One letter said, "A cl...