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This piece, written by Rob Richie, originally appeared in Cato Unbound as the lead essay in a series on ranked choice voting in December of 2016. American democracy today is working more poorly than it has in generations. Even as the toxic 2016 presidential campaign featured the two most unpopular major party candidates in modern history and Congress has historic lows in approval, minor party presidential challengers were marginalized, and nearly 98% of congressional incumbents won re-election.

Ever since Donald Trump won the presidential election, the Democratic Party and its allies have had a renewed appreciation for the “one person, one vote” principle established in the landmark 1964 Supreme Court case, Reynolds v. Sims. Even notable political scholars like Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig, who is not really a friend of the DNC, is wondering out loud why the Democratic Party doesn’t just file a lawsuit against the Electoral College for violating this clear constitutional standard

In August, just one month after the Democratic National Convention, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders announced the launch of Our Revolution, a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping his progressive movement alive and strong. Among its stated goals are “supporting a new generation of progressive leaders" and "empowering millions to fight for progressive change." To these ends, Our Revolution backed more than 100 candidates from the school board level to the U.S. Senate between August and Ele

Deep in their cups after November 8th, lamenting the rolling tragedy that was this election season, the realization will settle in: “We could have won this one.” “This was a winnable race. The opponent was so flawed. The people are so mad. We could have elected a worthy American to be president. Someone all Americans can believe in. We could have....” They will stare longingly at the numbers. According to Real Clear Politics average of polls, 63% of the people think the country is on the wrong

A vote for Governor Gary Johnson has been described by both sides as a wasted vote, a protest vote, and a vote that will elect the candidate you fear the most. This oversimplification of our political process ignores the importance and reality of how the Electoral College actually works, and how a win for Gary Johnson even in a single state could upend the entire election. One recent post-debate poll puts this reality into context. As reported by Nate Silver for FiveThirtyEight, in New Mexico,

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Friday that he supports Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld appearing in the presidential debates for the same reason he supported nonpartisan elections in California: he believes we need an open political system, not a closed one. Gov. Schwarzenegger was a major supporter of Proposition 14 in California, which reformed the semi-closed partisan primary system for statewide and federal elections to an open, nonpartisan system. He also s

There's an axiom in polling that goes back to 1936. If you expect to win the presidency, you'd better be polling well as September begins. Nobody really 'likes' to admit that polling is as good of a science as it is; it tends to undermine our sense of control and autonomy -- that less than 1,000 people polled can represent the population of 146 million or so voters in the United States. But that's the nature of statistics -- as well as the numbers being criticized for any number of reasons. B

As with past election cycles, third party and independent candidates – as well as initiatives aimed at reducing the power of the two major parties – are struggling to achieve access to general election ballots. In some cases, this is the result of general apathy toward specific parties, candidates, or reforms. In other cases, however, their exclusion from the ballot stems from a variety of causes, including minor technicalities, official ineptitude, constitutionally dubious legal barriers, and,

Evan McMullin’s first full week as a candidate for president has been both surprising and, for some of us, predictable. McMullin talks and acts like a seasoned candidate, and not like a novice traversing his first national campaign. Predictable are the dismissive tones from a political class heart hardened to newcomers. The most successful independent and insurgent candidates burst forth riding a sugar high of excitement, generating animated crowds looking for the new, and garnering quizzical b

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42gy1Dz4sfI&feature=youtu.be&t=51s Independent Voter Project attorney Chad Peace went on RT America Friday to discuss what independent and independent-minded voters can do to make their voices heard in the current two-party system. Peace most recently authored an amicus curiae brief in the lawsuit filed by Level the Playing Field and Peter Ackerman against the FEC, challenging current presidential debate entry rules established by the Commission on Presidential D