Search query: california

Gerrymandering has long eroded the competitiveness, representativeness, and accountability of our democracy. But in recent years, the problem has entered a dangerous phase — one in which both parties see no option but to fight with every weapon they can find.

With the national media focused on elections in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia, and California, one overlooked story was the expansion of ranked choice voting on Tuesday as Greenbelt, Maryland, joined the dozens of U.S. cities that have adopted and already use the reform.

Ahead of the November 4 special election in California, it was easy to predict the success of a legislative gerrymander under Prop 50. When the measure was projected to be victorious the second polls closed, it didn’t surprise anyone.

A new set of interactive data tools is providing Californians with an unprecedented look inside the state’s prison system. Developed by the California Policy Lab in partnership with the state’s Committee on the Revision of the Penal Code, the California Prison Population Data Dashboards make ten years of state prison data accessible to anyone online.

Across the country, both parties are weighing whether to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Texas, California, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, and Virginia are all in various stages of the action. Here are five politicians who have declined to support redistricting efforts promoted by their own parties.

The special election for California Prop 50 wraps up November 4 and recent polling shows the odds strongly favor its passage. The measure suspends the state’s independent congressional map for a legislative gerrymander that Princeton grades as one of the worst in the nation.

The latest Independent Voter Podcast episode takes listeners through the messy intersections of politics, reform, and public perception. Chad and Cara open with the irony of partisan outrage over trivial issues like a White House ballroom while overlooking the deeper dysfunctions in our democracy. From California to Maine, they unpack how the very words on a ballot can tilt entire elections and how both major parties manipulate language and process to maintain power.

The ongoing mid-decade redistricting battle between the Republican and Democratic Parties, which now literally spans from the west coast in California to the east coast in Virginia and North Carolina, may be the final nail in the coffin for an old saying in American politics: Specifically, “All politics is local.” 

Should we be comfortable with the surge of hedge funds and real estate investment trusts buying up single-family homes and turning them into rentals? What happens to families who just want to buy one house and build a life there? The question is more than theoretical. It is reshaping the foundation of what was once called the American dream.

Can San Diego build its way out of its three-part housing crisis – supply, affordability and homelessness? Some of elected officials think so and are leading the charge. I have been in the real estate industry for 50-plus years, and I say they are on the wrong track.