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In a move that many believe will disenfranchise third party, independent, and even Republican candidates in the majority-Democratic state of New Mexico, the NM Secretary of State, Maggie Toulouse Oliver, announced Wednesday that she will include a "straight party" voting option for the 2018 general election ballot. Straight party, or "straight ticket" voting, which was discontinued in New Mexico in 2012 by then-Secretary of State Dianna Duran, is a ballot option that allows voters to simply pic

In a move characteristic of the fiercely independent Republican senator, Rand Paul of Kentucky crossed party lines Tuesday to endorse Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate for Senate in New Mexico, even though there is a Republican running in the race. Reason Magazine called Rand Paul's endorsement, "a surprising move that could have dramatic impact on third-party politics and Capitol Hill's balance of power." The Hill reports that Mick Rich, the Republican Senate candidate in New Mexi

San Diego, CA.- From the Oval Office, President Trump announced a new trade deal with Mexico. The deal was announced as a conference call with the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto. The deal is expected to be called the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement. Peña Nieto noted in the conference call, "We think this is something very positive for the U.S. and Mexico, we are celebrating the negotiating between our two countries. It's been a negotiation for quite a few months, to review, mode

 The 2012 and 2016 Libertarian Party presidential candidate and former Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, announced Thursday that he will be joining the 2018 New Mexico U.S. Senate race on the Libertarian Party ticket. After the previous Libertarian nominee for the November Senate contest dropped out of the race a week ago, the Libertarian Party of New

The 2012 and 2016 Libertarian Party presidential candidate and former Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, may step into his home state's 2018 Senate race, the Associate Press reports. The previous Libertarian nominee for the November Senate contest, State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn, dropped out of the race last week, saying in a written statement to the Los Alamos Monitor, "After much contemplation with my family and supporters, I believe I need to focus on my job as Land Commissioner for

To have their voices heard and enact change, citizens are urged to use their vote. But how can America's population be truly represented when, in some states, it is nearly impossible for independent or minor party candidates to even appear on voters' ballots? What good is a "fair" vote when viable candidates are undermined by strict ballot access laws that favor the two major parties? Clearly, election reform at state and federal levels is desperately needed. Here are 8 of America's worst ballo

The independent and nonpartisan reform movements have never seen the momentum they are seeing today. Voters are ditching the Republican and Democratic Parties in droves. A record number of independent and third party candidates are running. And, powerful coalitions are forming to transform the US political system into one that is more representative of the diverse political landscape in America. We are witnessing history in the making. Here are the 15 biggest developments in the independent mov

The following blog is based on a new FairVote report on ranked choice voting elections in 2018In the first half of 2018, nearly half a million voters ranked their choices in elections for the most important offices in their communities. Voters in Santa Fe, New Mexico elected their first full-time mayor, voters in San Francisco elected their mayor in a hotly-contested special, and voters in Maine ranked their choices in state and congressional primary elections – and then convincingly upheld rank

Democracy advocates recently celebrated a victory in Maine, where voters used ranked-choice voting in their statewide primaries — the first state ever to do so. In that election, voters also approved a referendum to keep the ranked-choice system for future elections. They will use it this November in the elections for U.S. Senate and U.S. House.ALSO READ: Independents Made the Difference in Maine’s Ranked Choice VotingAdvocates say this method of voting opens up the system to third parties and i

I am writing from a spot nestled in the woods in Washington County in rural New York, listening to the chatter of the morning birds and looking forward to a walk along the Battenkill River later today. It is summer vacation and that means summer reading, somehow especially delicious done by the sea, or in a hammock, or a shady spot under a tree. How did reading become so identified with the summer lexicon? In a 2012 Boston Globe article, author Craig Fehrman posits that the idea of summer readi