Search query: virginia

With a lot of primary left to go, the Democratic presidential candidates have raised and already spent a small fortune on their White House aspirations. So much for keeping money out of politics, right? As long as the there's politics in money, there will be money in politics. But there are a few good non-partisan political innovations that could improve the way money flows into political campaigns to make the system more transparent and fair to candidates and voters. In the meantime, looking

Illinois should host the first presidential primaries if the goal is to pick a state that most closely matches the demographics of the country. And Vermont, the home state of Democratic front-runner Bernie Sanders, should have minimal influence over the process because its makeup is least similar to the entire United States — meaning the results from that state would be hardly at all predictive of the nation's views. Those are among the conclusions out Thursday from the personal financial ser

The beginning of the 2020 presidential election was an unmitigated disaster. Results that should have been reported the night-of in Iowa instead took days as a result of technical issues with an app and inconsistent numbers being reported. Politicos were baffled while accusations of a rigged process arose after the candidate with the most votes didn’t leave with the most delegates. At the center of the controversy was independent US Senator Bernie Sanders, and suddenly the question became whet

On November 19, a California judge will hear arguments to determine whether California’s presidential primary rules violate the constitutional rights of California’s 5.6 million “no party preference” voters. For presidential contests, the Golden State has some of the most confusing primary rules in the country for independent voters. By default, “no party preference” voters (NPPs) in the state are given a ballot without any presidential candidates at all. If they want to participate, they must

There is a dirty word in American politics, worse than “crook,” more terrible than “philanderer,” and more despicable than “liar.” The word is “spoiler.” A crook, a philanderer, and a liar sully the character of an office, or enrich themselves at the public trough, or violate the public trust. These offenses are punishable, sometimes forgivable. But “spoiler” is the Scarlet Letter. The perpetrator has committed a special crime, one that changes the course of events as they were meant to be. The

As the new year begins, state legislatures around the country are convening to tackle the issues of the day. After seeing pro-democracy measures surge on the ballot in the 2018 midterms, it’s no surprise that efforts to address our broken elections continue to dominate discussion among the public and in the halls of power. Coming off of its historic first statewide implementation in Maine, ranked choice voting (RCV) has been a key part of this conversation in state legislatures from Massachuset

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - Another State of the Union address, and an inevitably contradictive response has come and gone. Within days, no one beyond political aficionados will remember the content of either speech, or the reactions that were witnessed, beyond what talking points the parties and media outlets choose to use to manipulate beliefs. As has become the practice, one party offers hope while the other pleads for change. From a non-partisan perspective, the SOTU speech was generally well writt

The 2020 presidential field is already taking shape. Nine Democrats have announced their campaigns since December, many of whose announcements went under the radar because the lack of media coverage: * Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana * Julian Castro, former Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, and former HUD Secretary * John Delaney, former Maryland congressman and businessman * Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii congresswoman * Kirsten Gillibrand, US Senator (NY) * Kamala Harris, US Senator (Cal

The last time the U.S. Senate leadership brought up a resolution to approve another round of arms sales to Saudi Arabia was June 2017, and it was nearly defeated– passing by a narrow 53 to 47 votes. That's because Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has had his sights set on ending U.S. arms sales to the Gulf Kingdom since long before the shockingly brazen, premeditated murder this October, of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A permanent resident of the United States living in Virginia, Khashoggi

Washington, D.C. - Ohio will be the first state in the nation to use blockchain technology for tax payments. Businesses will be able to pay 23 types of taxes via bitcoin. But if blockchain is secure enough for a government to collect money from companies, why hasn't it been given the green light for widespread use in securing our votes? West Virginia used a new blockchain pilot program to allow military men and women, as well as their families, to cast their votes in the midterm elections usin