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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.

Zohran Mamdani’s name appeared twice on the New York City mayoral ballot?! No voter ID?! Eric Adams appeared on the ballot despite dropping out?! Andrew Cuomo’s name appeared last?! An election rigged against Cuomo?!

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.

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.

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.

The New York City mayoral election has drawn national attention in a way voters haven’t seen in modern history. This is because Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, 33 and a self-described democratic socialist, is poised to win based on the latest polling.

Eighteen U.S. cities and counties have used or are using ranked choice voting (RCV) in 2025 -- including the largest cities in three states: New York City (for its primaries only), Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City.

The U.S. has entered Day 22 of the latest government shutdown with no end in sight. As pundits expect it to surpass the 35-day record set during Trump’s first term, a new Gallup poll shows voters’ approval of Congress has plummeted in the last month. Yet, for congressional leaders, there isn’t any urgency to re-open the government. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries trade jabs back and forth in the media, but the blame game continues to be prioritized over solutions.

Going into 2025, there were few people who expected a statewide ballot measure election in California to become the sixth most expensive in state history in a year with no other statewide race on the ballot – but here we are with Prop 50, which asks voters to approve a legislative gerrymander.