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The big story this week was how Donald Trump, aka The Donald, pulled ahead of the crowded Republican field by taking the lead in the latest poll. POLITICO's headline read: Donald Trump leads GOP field in latest poll. He topped the Republican field with 17 percent. The establishment-favorite, Jeb Bush, was in second with 14 percent. From the Suffolk University/USA Today Poll: Among voters who identify either as Republicans or independents and who plan to vote in their states’ Republican primari

On Thursday, July 9, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court discarded parts of Florida’s congressional district maps, saying that state legislators had violated a provision of the Florida constitution prohibiting political considerations in redistricting when drawing the districts. The Independent Voter Project (IVP) this week filed a petition for Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of New Jersey’s “closed” primary election system based on the same premise – ele

Hey there. Here’s my latest offering and take on a number of items related to nonpartisan issues and voter reform efforts from around the nation. From the Supreme Court ruling on redistricting commissions to the Independent Voter Project petitioning the same Supreme Court -- and everything in between -- it has been a busy couple of weeks. Thanks for reading. Jeff Why Labor’s Dem-on-Dem Attacks Are Foolhardy Source: CalBuzz With so much of the national media attention focused on the GOP and

On Thursday, the New York Times Editorial Board published a scathing op-ed calling out Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (who is also running for president in 2016) for his threat to veto New Jersey's Democracy Act. The Democracy Act (A-4613) was introduced in June, led by Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and Majority Leader Lou Greenwald. The legislation deals primarily with voter registration, early voting, and limiting special elections. While most, if not all of the bill's goal

Introduction to the Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court ISSUE: Whether a New Jersey statute mandating that otherwise qualified voters join one of two particular political parties as a condition of voting at an integral stage of the State’s election process violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Filed: July 7, 2015 The fundamental right to vote is a nonpartisan right. Under its current law, however, the State of New Jersey requires that

A coalition led by the Independent Voter Project (IVP) filed a petition for Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday in a case challenging the constitutionality of New Jersey’s closed primary system. The coalition, which includes IndependentVoting.org and 7 individual plaintiffs, argues that the current election process in New Jersey gives political parties and their members a decided advantage in the election process at the expense of individual voters, includ

The average voter turnout in New Jersey’s primary elections is just 8 percent, and it costs taxpayers $12 million to administer each election cycle. Despite these facts, Governor Chris Christie’s administration defends its taxpayer-funded, exclusive, and private closed-primary election process against a legal challenge asserting the right of all voters to be treated equally. In its brief, the Christie administration argued: “…a voter who feels disenfranchised because of a regulation that condi

Arizona Public Media reported last week that former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson is once again leading an effort to implement a top-two primary in Arizona similar to the electoral systems in California and Washington state. Johnson led the push to put the top-two system on the 2012 ballot, and voters rejected it by a two-to-one margin. He thinks putting a top-two ballot measure in front of Arizona voters in 2016 would have different results. “The grassroots, nonpartisan movement is really a natio

Since the movement launched in 2006, National Popular Vote has made significant progress to reform the way Americans elect their president. The group's plan involves a state-by-state approach. States that join the National Popular Voter Interstate Compact (NPVIC) agree that rather than having their electors cast their ballots for president according to whichever candidate won the most votes in their respective states, the electors will instead vote for the candidate who won the most votes natio

By way of introduction, I’m Jeff Marston, co-chair of the Independent Voter Project. Starting today and every couple of weeks I’m going to be sending out these short updates with nonpartisan issues that I feel are important for us politicos to start thinking and talking about. I’m a lifelong Republican, always will be. I was even elected to California’s legislature as one. But I do nonpartisan communications now with a company that includes independents and Democrats. All my life, I’ve enjoye