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The Games Politicians Play After Voters Pass Election Reforms

The Games Politicians Play After Voters Pass Election Reforms
Photo by A Chosen Soul on Unsplash. Unsplash+ license obtained by IVN Editor Shawn Griffiths.
Cara Brown McCormickCara Brown McCormick
Published: 04 Dec, 2025
1 min read

As IVN’s Shawn Griffiths travels to Miami to share hard-earned intel at the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers (NANR) conference, Chad and Cara focus on Washington, DC, where a 73 percent mandate for an open primary and ranked-choice voting is being slow-walked into something smaller and safer for the political class. It’s a replay of battles in Maine, New York, California, and Alaska - places where the fight for reform continued long after Election Night.

For anyone wondering why popular reforms like RCV and Open Primaries are so hard to pass and protect, this episode offers at least one answer: power never yields without sustained resistance, so reformers survive by comparing notes, learning from one another, and sticking together.

Listen to this episode and more from Independent Voter Project on Spotify and Apple Music.

In this article
Independent Voter PodcastOpen PrimariesRanked Choice Voting

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