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California's existing election system for Congress and state office could be improved with the following ideas. The problem with the status quo is that ever since it went into effect in 2011, there has been very limited choice on the November ballot. So far, no independent or minor party candidate has appeared on the November ballot for statewide office. Each statewide office in November has been between one Democrat and one Republican, with no write-in space. In November 2014, California vote

According to UtahPolicy.com, voters no longer want state legislators drawing state and congressional electoral districts. Instead, the majority of Utahns want an independent redistricting commission redrawing these districts come census time. This report comes a month after the Supreme Court upheld the use of an independent redistricting commission in Arizona. According to the findings, nearly two-thirds of Utah voters "say an independent commission should tackle the once-a-decade job of redraw

In an exclusive interview, I recently had the privilege of speaking to an American hero, William Binney, NSA whistle-blower. We discussed how NSA mass data collection makes us LESS safe; how the intentions behind it are not misguided but positively nefarious; how the lies that have been told about it are snowballing, and how Rand Paul's presidential candidacy may uniquely represent an opportunity for change. Listen to the interview below or read the full, astonishing transcript that follows.

When it comes time to vote in the 2016 congressional primary elections, will you be allowed to vote in the primary of your choice? We’ve updated our analysis on every state’s rules for its primary elections: open primaries, closed primaries, “semi-closed” primaries, and the handful of states that do something else entirely. Click here to see the updated page. The use of publicly funded primary elections to nominate candidates who then appear on the general election ballot is common in the U.S.

The 2012 presidential election was certainly the most expensive in American history. President Obama's re-election effort cost $1.1 billion, including nearly $700 million spent directly by his campaign. Mitt Romney's campaign spent over $400 million, but he received almost $800 million in additional outside help. The cost of the 2016 presidential election, however, is expected to surpass these figures. One estimate reaches as high as $5 billion, and Hillary Clinton's campaign might spend as muc

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

Tige Richardson’s recent piece on the media’s dismissive attitude toward Bernie Sanders’ campaign is the latest evidence against the myth that there is a liberal or left-wing bias in the mainstream media. And while its transparent, unanimous, and extremely premature declaration of Hillary Clinton’s nomination as “inevitable” seems to suggest otherwise, this de facto endorsement of her candidacy reveals the true nature of the mainstream media’s bias – one that is centrist, corporate, and establis

Last week, the General Assembly in North Carolina sent a bill (HB 405) to the desk of Governor Pat McCrory that is directed at thwarting undercover investigations that expose businesses' wrongdoing. The bill is the latest episode in a perennial back-and-forth dispute between the legislature and investigators documenting animal abuse at farms across the state. In recent years, North Carolina has failed several times to pass a bill criminalizing such investigations.The so-called "Property Protect

Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul announced on his Facebook page and Twitter account that he has taken the Senate floor to begin his filibuster of renewing the PATRIOT Act, specifically provisions in Section 215 that are set to expire at the end of the month. Check out the live footage of Paul's filibuster here. https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/601079082676318208 1:15 pm ET - Rand Paul takes the floor by saying, "There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow pow

According to the Sentencing Project, an estimated 5.85 million American citizens today are denied the right to vote because of state laws that prohibit voting by people with felony convictions. The Maryland Legislature recently voted to join 13 states like Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, and Utah in restoring voting rights to citizens convicted of a felony upon release from prison. However, these convicts will still be denied suffrage rights while they are incarcerated. Current debate over this