Articles by Eric Robinson

On August 17, Air Force veteran Chris Keniston was formally declared the first official presidential candidate of the Veterans Party of America. However, few people have likely heard of Keniston or the Veterans Party, founded in 2013, since not a single major news outlet covered the event. Yet for Keniston, this wasn't unexpected. "I don't expect any assistance from the mainstream media at all," Keniston said in an interview for IVN. "I truly expect that if I'm ever mentioned on a mainstream m...

KENTUCKY -- After entering the race with a petition of 9,000 signatures in early August, Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Drew Curtis' campaign is now in full swing. The founder of news aggregator Fark.com is running as an independent along with his wife and running mate, Heather Curtis, in this year's election. "In order to make sure I got on the ballot, we had to wait till the last minute in order to make sure I turned in as many signatures as possible," said Curtis. "People have run as an in...

Founded in 2003 by Page Gardner, the Voter Participation Center (VPC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging unmarried women, minorities, and Millennials to vote, which the organization has dubbed the "Rising American Electorate (RAE)." "We are very much concerned with the underrepresented -- those in our society who are not participating at a level that is consistent with their general representation in the eligible voting population," said Gail Kitch, executive vice president of...

New measures aimed at improving the safety and legitimacy of medical marijuana might be hitting California in the future as state lawmakers consider a bill that would provide a regulatory structure for the state’s medical marijuana industry. “We want to ensure that patients who need medical marijuana treatment not only have access, but are receiving quality medical marijuana that is safe for consumption,” said State Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), the author of AB 34, in an interview for...

With over a million dollars being spent and plenty of attacks from both sides, the race in California's 52nd Congressional District has only just started to heat up with less than 40 days left until Election Day. Democratic U.S. Representative Scott Peters, who is about to finish his first term in Congress, is defending his incumbency against Republican candidate Carl DeMaio. While the race may have seemed like an uphill battle for Peters at one point, as a June Survey USA poll placed candidate...

In the 2014 U.S. Senate race in South Carolina, most of the focus seems to be on Senator Tim Scott's campaign to not only be the first black senator to serve South Carolina in the Senate, but the first elected black senator in the state. In December 2012, Governor Nikki Haley appointed Scott to replace retiring Senator Jim DeMint. He is running to win the final two years of DeMint's term. However, with all the focus on one candidate, the media is ignoring the minor party candidates in the race....

A March 7 Pew Research article found that 50 percent of Millennials consider themselves independent. When compared to the 39 percent of Gen Xers, 37 percent of Boomers, and 32 percent of Silents who say the same, a trend becomes clear: as generations come and go, the number of independents continues to increase. Will Millennials be the generation to finally end partisanship? For some, the answer is a definite yes. "I think there's a good empirical and theoretical basis for saying that this ver...

With the announced retirement of South Dakota U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D) back in March, it seemed that a takeover of the seat by Republicans was all but certain due to a lack of viable Democratic candidates. However, the surprise reemergence of former Republican Senator Larry Pressler, now running to reclaim his seat as an independent, has served to make the race more interesting "What I'm trying to do is win," said Larry Pressler in an interview for IVN. "I'm not worried about other candidat...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NbDOpx4g70 The Approval Voting Primary Act in Oregon has cleared a major hurdle which could allow Unified Primaries to be put before Oregon voters later this year. With the May 8 approval of the ballot title by the Oregon Supreme Court, the secretary of state will begin giving out the petition forms within the week. A total of 87,213 signatures from registered voters by July 3 will be necessary in order to get the measure on the ballot. The Approval Voting Prima...