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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

This week, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge by the Arizona legislature, which was seeking to invalidate an Independent Redistricting Commission established by Arizonans through the initiative and referendum process. The Arizona Legislature asserted that they, not a voter created independent commission, had the right to draw congressional district lines. They based their arguments on a literal reading of the constitution. But in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the S

Arizona Public Media reported last week that former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson is once again leading an effort to implement a top-two primary in Arizona similar to the electoral systems in California and Washington state. Johnson led the push to put the top-two system on the 2012 ballot, and voters rejected it by a two-to-one margin. He thinks putting a top-two ballot measure in front of Arizona voters in 2016 would have different results. “The grassroots, nonpartisan movement is really a natio

On Wednesday, Nebraska shocked the nation by being the first Republican-dominated state to abolish the death penalty in 40 years. The unicameral Legislature, unique in the United States, voted to override Governor Pete Ricketts' (R) veto 30-to-19. The vote highlights a growing trend across the country -- Democrats and Republicans are finding common ground on criminal justice issues. Whether it is on Capitol Hill or in state legislatures, members of both parties are showing rare bipartisan coope

We Californians are to blame when it comes to our water shortage -- but ultimately for reasons most of us never contemplate. The problem is our willingness to cede to single-party control in our state. Regardless of which side of the aisle you purport to stand on, putting all our water through one filter is proving to be disastrous for a multitude of reasons. We truly lose due to the simple fact that California is a 'blue' state and doesn't look to change its voting patterns nationally anytime

Editor's note: The article below initially said that Nebraska does not have a top-two system, which is true for many of its elections. However, it does have a form of top-two for state legislative races and the article has been updated to clarify this fact. FLORIDA -- The New Times Broward-Palm Beach reported Friday that a nonpartisan group, All Voters Vote Inc., will be leading a petition drive to get the top-two primary on the 2016 general election ballot in Florida. All Voters Vote Inc., a

Daylight Savings first originated in Germany during World War I to save electricity, and the UK quickly followed their lead. When Daylight Savings was first adopted in the U.S., it was part of a war policy, also implemented during the First World War to save fuel.The U.S. ceased to recognize Daylight Savings after the war and didn't adopt it again until the Second World War. 1966 was the first year that Daylight Saving Time (DST) became a nationwide, peacetime policy that all states had to use

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

Vote Hemp, a major grassroots hemp advocacy group, on Thursday announced the introduction of complementary bills in the U.S. House and Senate, S. 134 and H.R. 525, titled the " Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015," with support on both sides of the political aisle. The Act would remove federal restrictions on the cultivation of industrial hemp, the non-drug oilseed and fiber varieties of Cannabis. “With bi-partisan support in the Senate and House, we are eager to see 2015 be the year Congress

2008 was a historic year for young voters. After a steady increase in youth turnout between the 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential elections, the 2008 election was said to have one of the highest youth voter turnout rates in the history of the United States -- thereby ending a historical trend of persistently low youth turnout with the first majority turnout by youth voters since 1964. An estimated 22 million Americans under the age of 30 voted in the 2008 presidential election. With a 51 perce