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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

NATIONAL -- Despite its name, the concerns of the Green Party reach far beyond ecology and environmental issues. The party believes citizens, not corporations, are the true stakeholders in democracy. “Greens seek to bring vibrant grassroots democracy to every part of the United States,” its platform says. The Green Party defines itself with 10 key values, including grassroots democracy, social justice, ecology, non-violence, sustainability, feminism, diversity, and responsibility. For the pur

As discussed in the first part of this story, Hillary Clinton has spent the last few years repairing her image for the 2016 presidential election. An important aspect of this image-repair involves combatting the perception that she is a member of the corporation-backed, establishment wing of the Democratic Party. Read More: This is What Inevitability Looks Like: How Hillary Clinton Won the Invisible Primary (Part 1) While Mrs. Clinton has not severed her ties to big business (she has received

On March 4, 2015, the General Social Study published its latest report examining the public's opinion on marijuana legalization. The study documents both the shift in popular consensus on marijuana over the past 40 years as well as the monumental growth that has occurred in the last decade. This is the first time that a comprehensive study has found over 50 percent of respondents in favor of marijuana legalization. According to the study, 52 percent of respondents favor legalizing marijuana. Th

Redistricting has been a contentious process since the early 1800s, when Governor Elbridge Gerry signed a bill that reshaped electoral districts in Massachusetts to benefit the Democratic-Republicans. This manipulation of the redistricting process was nicknamed a Gerry-Mander, partially after Governor Gerry, and partially after the shape of one of the Boston districts, which resembled a salamander. The practice, now commonly referred to as gerrymandering, presents a challenge to the U.S.'s repu

Last week, the Utah House reignited the capital punishment controversy by approving a measure to bring back the firing squad as a legal form of execution in response to growing court challenges over lethal injection. Wyoming approved a similar law in January, joining Oklahoma as the only states with the firing squad approved in the event of court rulings against lethal injection. Too often, the death penalty debate centers on what the Founding Fathers meant by the phrase "cruel and unusual pun

Without a doubt, almost every American knows the name Benedict Arnold. Arnold was the worst form of traitor: one who does the damage, then flees without taking responsibility for their actions. But another largely unknown traitor was among the highest ranks in the Continental Army, holding the post equivalent to a modern Surgeon General. This unknown traitor tells us a lot about the generation and times of the Founders, the legal system of crime and punishment, but more importantly, how we shou

It’s no secret that Millennials are disinterested in politics. Their turnout in the 2014 elections was dismal at best, and a recent Harvard poll revealed that only 35 percent of 18-29 year olds believe that running for elected office is an honorable thing to do. Yet, Millennials still believe strongly in civic engagement. As noted in an earlier IVN article, they are more likely to volunteer and view volunteering as more important than their parents. Whether or not that stems from moral obligat

The League of Women Voters (LWV) has filed an amicus brief (friend of the court) in the U.S. Supreme Court case Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The LWV sides with the independent redistricting commission (and lower court), arguing that the state legislature acts in an extremely hyper-partisan manner, which only hurts the political process. At issue in the case is the constitutionality of independent redistricting commissions. The outcome of the case,

Independent voters are the fastest growing voting bloc in the U.S. The number of people who self-identify as neither Republican nor Democrat has been on a steady incline since 2008. In the last two years alone, the number of voters registered without a party preference has increased by hundreds of thousands of voters, increasing the number of states where independent voters exceed party registration. There are several states that do not require voters to declare their political affiliation whe