Search query: iowa

The Connecticut General Assembly’s Government Administration and Elections (GAE) Committee held a public hearing Monday on SB 1536, a bill to implement Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in Connecticut.

Throughout American history, political movements have come and gone. Many of these movements have been reactionary, established after elections, events, and shifts in policies and politics. Some began in direct response to other movements, cropping up on the left or the right, often coming back full circle.

In discussions with an elderly voter in Colorado about Proposition 131, the unsuccessful 2024 ballot measure to create a nonpartisan primary with ranked choice voting (RCV), in the general election, we learned something important. This individual had voted against Proposition 131, casting his mail ballot on the day he received it. A week later, he received a campaign ad mailer that Colorado’s governor and Denver’s mayor had endorsed Proposition 131, which may have influenced his decision.

Democrats are taking stock. Some are arguing for a major overhaul in light of growing defections of working-class, Black, and Latino voters. Others want to stay the course. Some want to work with Trump when possible while others advocate for a program of permanent resistance.

Look up oligarch in a dictionary and you may find it defined as “someone who is extremely rich and powerful, especially a person from Russia who became rich after the end of the former Soviet Union.” Oligarchy is defined as “government by a small group of very powerful people.”

January 21, 2025, marked the 15th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, a decision that opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending in elections. Since that ruling, super PACs and outside spending have skyrocketed, and the voices of everyday voters have been drowned out by wealthy donors and corporate interests. The impact of Citizens United is clear: the political system is increasingly controlled by the rich, while ordinary voters are left behind.

In late 2024, the Herbert Institute at Utah Valley University released two reports on Utah’s ranked choice voting (RCV) pilot program. In the reports, Professors Alan Parry and John Kidd and co-authors Michael Erickson and Addison Stott capture the high level of support for RCV among Utah voters, as well as the strong foundation that RCV has in mathematics. 

Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) have long operated in the shadows of the U.S. healthcare system, wielding significant influence over drug pricing and access. Recent developments, including federal investigations, state lawsuits, and bipartisan legislative efforts, have intensified scrutiny on these intermediaries, highlighting the urgent need for reform.

Though we come from opposite coasts, we share a painful reality that many Americans know all too well: our communities have been devastated by disaster. One of us lives in California, where historic wildfires have ravaged coastal cities - destroying thousands of homes and businesses, displacing tens of thousands of people, and claiming more than two dozen lives.

Monday marked the kickoff of the 2025 legislative session in the Iowa General Assembly. However, several bills had already been prefilled for consideration. Among them: a ranked choice voting ban.