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1. Both parties engage in and benefit from gerrymandering, the practice of redrawing district lines for partisan gain. In 2010, Republicans invested millions in statewide races to retake state legislatures for the purpose of controlling congressional redistricting. Since then, Republicans have created highly gerrymandered maps in states like North Carolina and Virginia. Democrats are guilty of gerrymandering as well: Maryland hosts some of the most contorted, gerrymandered districts in the count

Green Party signature coordinators across the country are reporting an influx of Bernie Sanders supporters to the Greens' campaign. How far the new momentum will take the party in the 2016 election is yet to be seen. The first order of business is to get the Greens recognized on state ballots, or at least to get Jill Stein, the presumptive presidential nominee, recognized as an independent presidential candidate. As of August 1 Several ballot access deadlines hit this week. In addition to the

In the weeks since the California primary, when Hillary Clinton joined Donald Trump in becoming her party’s presumptive nominee for president, FairVote has tracked both candidates’ campaign appearances. FairVote’s similar analysis in 2012 showed just how much the candidates focus on swing states that might tip the election with our current Electoral College rules. After the conventions in 2012, Barack Obama campaigned in a grand total of just eight states and Mitt Romney added only two more. The

Tim Kaine is as vanilla middle as you can get. -- Robert Reich 7/24/2016 In Robert Reich's op-ed on Sunday, he questioned whether Hillary Clinton 'got it' when it came to selecting Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) as her running mate against the Trump/Pence ticket, accusing her of fundamentally ignoring the progressive nature of this year's primary. Clinton was in a terrific position of choice, already knowing the opposition's lineup before her choice was formalized -- she could have chosen anyone fr

“Americans vote for their president.” Well, yes and no. America’s presidential election system relies on the Electoral College, a group of men and women chosen by state parties to vote in their favor. When Americans go to the polls, they choose their candidate of choice, and trust that the party electors will vote as the citizens have chosen. Each state has a certain number of electors: California has the most, with 55; other states, like Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska, have as few as three. The

This week, voters in eastern North Carolina will have the opportunity to decide the political fate of one of its more independent members. U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican representing North Carolina's third district since 1995, will engage in a re-match against former political consultant Taylor Griffin. In 2014, Griffin, a former adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain, lost to Jones by a 51-45 margin. Jones is perhaps best known for his policy stances - against Middle Eastern wars and

During the 2016 election, it is estimated that 43 states will use electronic voting machines that are at least 10 years old. In an era where consumers are constantly updating their personal technology, why is it that Americans are voting on machines using Windows 2000? A study released by the Brennan Center for Justice in 2015 explains that most of these machines are perilously close to the end of their lifespan. Outdated voting machines increase the risk of failures and crashes which could lea

2016’s campaign cycle, as “unconventional” as it may have turned out to be, clearly demonstrates one distinct fact—people are pissed off with the status quo! Why shouldn’t they be? The two national parties of Democrats and Republicans continue to make false promises and actually end up doing nothing. Furthermore, the country’s corporate-controlled national media is complicit in propping up the illusion that America’s partisan establishment will change with a new election. What a load of bull!

North Carolina’s HB 2 law—also known as the “bathroom bill”—has stirred the pot of national controversy for the past few weeks. This particular piece of legislation has catapulted itself into a topic of debate among the presidential candidates as well. For those unfamiliar with the bill, the impetus is simple: HB 2 codifies that people can only use a gender-specific public restroom that correlates with the gender stated on their birth certificate. And if you can’t read between the lines, this b

Faye Flam, who has written for Science Magazine and continues to write about science, mathematics, and medicine, recently explained in detail  a number of reasons why nature isn't as simple as some people believe, as exemplified by the contentious debate over transgender access to bathrooms. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has been attempting damage control after backlash from a bill requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms matching the gender on their birth certificate in schoo