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I. Independent Voters Are Disgusted With The Relentless Negativity of Partisan Gutter Politics Independent voters make up over 40 percent of registered voters in the United States today, while fewer than 30 percent are either registered Republicans or Democrats. Voters are leaving the parties in droves because they are disgusted by the fever pitch level of animus in partisan politics, the unrelenting negativity, the unscrupulous smearing, the cynical gutter politics into which American faction

According to FBI statistics released this week, marijuana arrests in the United States actually increased to 659,700 in 2017 over 2016's total of 653,249. That's despite the fact that in 2017, the number of states that legalized marijuana for medicinal or recreational use reached a total of 29 (plus Washington DC). As 2016 came to a close, the biggest winner in the hotly contested election seemed to be marijuana legalization, which passed at the ballot box in eight different states, bringing th

I. The State of Self-Driving Car Technology and The Possibilities In the 1990 film, Total Recall (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone), the protagonist played by the now former governor of California hails a self-driving car with a humanoid, robotic attendant sitting where a human driver would. What makes the surreal scene eerily prophetic is how Schwarzenegger asks the AI cab driver questions like one might ask Alexa, Siri, or Google's voice assistant, and the "Johnny Cab" sasses

The 2018 primary season will go down in history.A record number of women secured party nominations, including the headline-making upsets by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley. Retiring incumbents drew large numbers of diverse candidates competing for the open seat. Voter turnout peaked in several states and districts with competitive primaries.Topping the highlight reel was Maine, which became the first state in the country to use ranked choice voting in its June primary, with plans to

Soros Fund Management, the private investment management fund of George Soros, is generally very "left-leaning" and supportive of Democratic candidates, but sometimes the far-left financiers of the Soros Fund give to candidates who have an "(R)" next to their name. Earlier this week, I took a look at the Koch Brothers and examined some instances in which the partisan narrative doesn't exactly match up with reality– though they are often perceived as partisan Republicans, Koch Industries has giv

While viewing a map of congressional districts, one may believe they are examining an unsolvable puzzle. The same type of puzzle where you dump thousands of tiny colored pieces out of a box onto your kitchen table and immediately realize you have a bad case of buyer’s remorse. Similarly, on the district map, small jagged lines paired with long shapes seem to stretch through and around counties in a way that can best be described as completely unconventional. These shapes have come about as a re

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

Earlier this year, Utah and Washington quietly joined 14 other states that have eliminated the use of registration deadlines as a final cutoff to be able to vote. The congruent actions of a red state and blue state bring the number of states that allow voters to register or update a registration when they go to vote to nearly one in three. It’s a critical threshold that could spell the end of voter registration deadlines as we’ve known them for 100 years. Enabling voters to address and fix reg

I spoke with Jennifer Bullock, the Founder of Independent Pennsylvanians and the Director of the Philadelphia Social Therapy Group. Jennifer talked about what it is like organizing independent voters while the political parties seem hell bent on driving people crazy. Please send me your thoughts and comments to jopdycke@openprimaries.org. Enjoy this episode of The Pickle! Photo Credit: Tetiana Yurchenko / shutterstock.com

A wise man once said, “Those who make the rules, rule.” Today, we wonder whether the current rules of voting and governing can deliver any kind of progress. An important rules question was on the ballot in Maine yesterday and the voters delivered a clear message. After a hard-fought campaign against a brutal opposition, the voters passed Question 1 by a margin of 55% to 45%. This was a mass veto of the state legislature’s attempt to turn back the will of the voters. In 2016, Maine voters enact