Search query: virginia

Recording Votes: Fixing the Electoral College Our Electoral College (EC) is out of date. Powerful coalitions exist to push for its effective abolishment and a switch to a popular vote, but the support for this movement is not as strong as proponents had hoped. Constitutionally speaking, it will be easier to update the EC and improve it. In this section, I discuss three proposed methods for use of the EC: Winner-Take-All, District Plan, and Proportional Plan. Winner-Take-All method for the Elec

Now comes the hard part. The house passing health care repeal and replace legislation is a significant short-term win for President Trump, but it won’t mean anything lest he can wrangle the Senate’s support. And that won’t be easy. Clearly the bill is going to be put through the ringer in the Senate, as it should, and it will likely undergo significant changes and modifications before and if it is enacted into law, but make no mistake, this was an important political step for Washington, D.C.,

Last week, Congress avoided a government shutdown by agreeing to a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded for another week. Then over the weekend, US lawmakers agreed to a deal that will extend funding through September while Congress and the White House continue to negotiate longer-term fiscal policy priorities. The US House passed the budget deal Wednesday. But amidst Washington's annual kabuki theater dance around fiscal policy and possible government shutdowns, a litt

Bernie Sanders took time out of his busy schedule of trying to bring a single-payer healthcare bill to the Senate to endorse a candidate for governor of Virginia. Earlier this week, Sanders endorsed former congressman Tom Perriello in the governor’s race. https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/849235091939364865 The senator tweeted or retweeted about Perriello four times in the past three days, and he’s joining Perriello on the campaign trail. Sanders touts Perriello’s support for a $15 mini

The city commission of Fargo, North Dakota is currently considering a proposal that would dump the choose-one voting method used in a majority of cities and states across the U.S. and adopt approval voting for city elections. Fargo has an opportunity to make history as the first jurisdiction in the nation to use approval voting. Here is a quick explanation of how approval voting works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db6Syys2fmE Video Credit: The Center for Election Science "People are seein

In round one yesterday of March Madness, the premier spectacle of American sports, 32 teams went to the free throw line 634 times and converted 438 of their charitable gifts (you are not reading this anywhere else). Sixty-nine percent ain't that good; but it ain't the bad, either. But you are reading this because winning teams from the free throw line outshot their opponents in 12 of yesterday's 16 games. In several games the difference was critical to the game's denouement. In the Princeton

At no time in history has the issue of “open v. closed primaries” been so prominent in the national discussion as it is today. This is, in large part, because Bernie Sanders made it a plank of his presidential campaign. But it is also a consequence of an important reality: independent voters are the fastest growing segment of the electorate, by far. Yet, the first and highly important stage of our election process most often serves the exclusive benefit of the voters who choose to join one of t

A surprising new bipartisan bill surfaced this week, brought forth by a bipartisan team of lawmakers, giving pot supporters a new reason to light up. Rep. Thomas Garrett (R-Va.) introduced H.R. 1227, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017. The bill would allow states to fully dictate the way they handle both medical and recreational marijuana policy without risk of intervention by the federal government. Garrett is joined by U.S. Reps Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Scott Taylor (R-Va.

On Wednesday, March 1, a nonpartisan, top-two bill proposed by Illinois state State Rep. Sara Jimenez (R) was assigned to Election and Campaign Finance Committee. The bill, HB3655, was originally introduced on February 10, and would make Illinois the third state to adopt a top-two primary system for statewide elections. IVN reported in January on another bill, HB0285, introduced by state Rep. Mike Fortner (R) that would reform state primary elections the same way. Fortner's bill was also assign

President Donald Trump’s first weeks as president seem to be centered around one strategy: Prove to the American people that he’s a man of his word and that unlike most politicians, he will actually keep his campaign promises. Despite the rocky start, he has mostly been successful in this endeavor. Travel ban? Executive order signed. Border wall? In the works. Restrictions on lobbying? Done. Trump has shown voters he is indeed a man of his word with the stroke of a pen. In fact, according to Ga