Category: election reform

Last week in Staten Island, the NYC Charter Revision Commission held its next-to-last public hearing. As Commissioner Diane Savino commented, addressing NYC's closed primary system “is the single biggest issue we’ve heard this year.”

Much of the election coverage on Tuesday focused on the New York primaries, especially in NYC and the hotly contested ranked choice election for mayor. What got less attention, however, were the 3.5 million independent voters in the state locked out of elections they paid for.

For the third time in history, New York City voters used ranked choice voting (RCV) to determine their party nominees in Tuesday’s citywide primary elections. First implemented in 2021, the system was used in that year’s highly competitive Democratic primary, where Eric Adams ultimately secured the nomination and went on to become mayor. It was used again in 2023 without incident.

The United States is facing a disturbing resurgence of politically motivated violence, targeted attacks not just on individuals, but on the democratic fabric of the nation itself. Over the past several years, elected officials, public servants, and civilians have been stalked, firebombed, shot, and killed, sometimes in their homes, sometimes in broad daylight, often because of who they are, what they believe, or who they represent.

North Carolina voters are encouraged to check their voter registration. On June 24, the party affiliation of about 34,000 voters will change in the voter registration database from a now unrecognized political party to unaffiliated.

Tuesday marked a historic election for Charlottesville, Virginia, as the city used ranked choice voting (RCV) for the first time in a competitive Democratic primary. RCV advocates say the results offer a compelling case for the system’s potential to increase representation and voter satisfaction.

We’re halfway into 2025 and the year has already delivered several wins for independent voters and their right to equal participation in elections following a campaign cycle in which statewide ballot measure losses threatened to slow down the movement.

Republican lawmakers, political groups, and donors are going to attempt to qualify a constitutional amendment for California’s November 2026 ballot that would require voters to present government-issued identification and verify their citizenship before casting a ballot.

Registered unaffiliated voters in Nevada – the state’s largest registered voting bloc – came close to gaining real electoral power in elections with the adoption of semi-open primaries. That is, until Gov. Joe Lombardo decided to keep their voices suppressed.

Showing an independent streak in keeping with Maine’s political tradition, Sen. Rick Bennett (R–Oxford) broke ranks with his party this week to join 91 Democrats in supporting a bill that would finally fulfill the will of Maine voters: implementing ranked choice voting (RCV) in all state general elections.