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FairVote on June 12 released Government of the Few in the “Decided Dozen" -- Frozen Representation and the Distorted Demographics of Decisive Primary Elections. Report authors Andrew Douglas and Zack Avre zero in on the “Decided Dozen”—12 states where control over the state legislature and the outcome of the great majority of general election races is never in doubt, leaving the only meaningful choices and power to voters in low turnout, unrepresentative primary contests. Source: FairVote: The

The House of Representatives voted last week to pass H.R. 1735, also known as the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) -- 269 in favor to 161 opposed. The vote came over the concerns of several dozen members of Congress who urged the lower chamber to debate and vote on authorizing the use of military force against ISIS before the vote on the NDAA. In a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and 28 co-signers argued: "We are deeply concerned that eig

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

On Monday, March 23, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) became the first candidate from either major party to announce his candidacy for president in the 2016 election. His announcement, in which he promised to stand for liberty and asked his audience at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia to imagine a president who acted on a purely conservative agenda, has become the subject of much controversy. As soon as news broke Sunday that Ted Cruz was going to be the first high-profile candidate to

The Hill reported Thursday that U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) may attach his Audit the Fed bill to the debt ceiling increase, which could come as early as March. One way or another, Paul expects a vote on his bill in 2015 and is confident it will pass. The most immediate obstacle over the last few years for any bill that increases congressional oversight at the Federal Reserve has been the Senate; more specifically, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). As Senate majority leader, Reid refused to let his

There is an ongoing lawsuit attempting to close Montana’s open primary system. This lawsuit is being joined by the Montana Republican Party. State Republicans support closing their primaries because they argue Democrats and other nonmembers have been influencing their elections for years. "One example given during the state GOP’s meeting to make the case for joining the lawsuit was a vote in the state House of Representatives ... in which some Republicans supported an amendment to House procedu

Amidst a nationwide outbreak of measles, Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R) made headlines this week for his controversial defense of a parent's right to choose whether or not to vaccinate their child. What’s gone relatively unnoticed by the mainstream media, however, is his most recent effort to audit the Federal Reserve. Introduced last week, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2015 would allow the Government Accountability Office to audit the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Sy

Taxpayer-funded party primaries may soon be a thing of the past in Mississippi, if a recent report from a state-sponsored study group means anything. Convened by Mississippi’s secretary of state, the 50-member panel endorsed the top-two model for primary elections in mid-January, but stopped short of backing any immediate change for fear that it could confuse election workers. As a group, the panel didn’t have any formal legislative or policymaking authority, so any change in how Mississippia

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

On Saturday, the Montana Republican Party's State Central Committee voted overwhelmingly to join a lawsuit that seeks to close the state's primary elections. Many Republicans expressed concern that nonmembers were infiltrating the party and influencing elections. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, challenges the constitutionality of open primaries in the state. Under the current system, voters are able to choose which party ballot they want to vote on when they participate in primary e