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Voters in South Dakota may have an opportunity to change the way elections are conducted in their state. TakeItBack.org submitted over 40,000 signatures to South Dakota's secretary of state Monday in favor of a ballot initiative that would implement nonpartisan, top-two primaries in the state similar to the election model used for state legislative races in Nebraska. There are three states with some form of nonpartisan, top-two system. California and Washington state use a similar system for al

In South Dakota, a handful of 2016 ballot initiatives call for sweeping changes in the state's electoral system. Three amendments to the state's constitution have been proposed, detailing reforms to primary elections, political redistricting, and campaign finance laws. One amendment in particular would establish a nonpartisan open primary system similar to the primary elections used in Nebraska for state legislative races. This means that candidates running for any elected office do not run und

“We need an insurgency of the rational: a generation of Americans who are fed up with the current political system, who believe we can do better, and most important, who are ready to do something about it.”. — Charles Wheelan - Founder of The Centrist Project and author of “The Centrist Manifesto” Millions of people intuitively understand the four simple words Mr. Wheelan opened with in The Centrist Manifesto, a book he wrote in 2013 calling for fundamental change to end the U.S.’s dysfunctiona

While Congress has twice mandated the use of single-member districts (SMD) for electing members of Congress (once in 1842 and again in 1967), state legislatures are at liberty to determine how their representatives will be elected. According to FairVote, at one time, more than half of all state legislators were elected from multi-member districts (MMD). Fifty years ago, more than two-thirds of states had at least some multi-member districts. Today, that number has dropped to just ten: Vermont

The nonpartisan or "top-two" primary in California is working and the Golden State has more competitive elections, has increased voter access and a better functioning legislature. Those are the key findings released today in a report from called A Quiet Revolution: The Early Success of California’s Top Two Nonpartisan Primary from Open Primaries. The authors of the report are Jason Olson, the president of Independentvoice.org, a San Francisco based organization of independent voters and Dr. Oma

Right now in America, a broad movement exists calling for change. It cannot be defined by any single label. Independent, Common Sense, Moderate, Centrist... they have all been used to characterize aspects of something much larger. It is a movement driven by a deep disillusionment with politics. Its members are the crazy voters, the ones who view the low standards of leadership, the lack of government responsiveness, and the failure of Congress to do anything meaningful, and say, "Enough is enou

Controversy over Indiana's " Religious Freedom Restoration Act" is being heralded as a bellwether for national opinion by some LGBT advocates. The bill gave businesses the right to deny service to someone if providing that service conflicted with the owner's religious beliefs. After national backlash, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed a revision to the law specifying that private business owners cannot use it to justify discrimination based on sexual orientation. "I think everyone on both si

South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed a bill dramatically changing the laws governing ballot access for Independent candidates just months after an Independent took 17% of the vote in a statewide election. The bill, Senate Bill 69, an act to revise certain provisions regarding elections and election petitions, specifically addresses how many signatures an Independent candidate must collect to get on the ballot, and who is allowed to sign the candidate's petition. The bill prevents any r

As of February 6, there have been 121 reported cases of the measles in 17 states and Washington, D.C., in 2015 alone. If the measles outbreak continues at this pace, the number of reported cases in 2015 will surpass 2014's record-setting numbers. Measles cases: Jan. 1 to Feb. 6, 2015. There are 121 cases reported in Washington, DC and 17 states (California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Texas, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, N

The League of Women Voters (LWV) has filed an amicus brief (friend of the court) in the U.S. Supreme Court case Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The LWV sides with the independent redistricting commission (and lower court), arguing that the state legislature acts in an extremely hyper-partisan manner, which only hurts the political process. At issue in the case is the constitutionality of independent redistricting commissions. The outcome of the case,