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The 2014 midterm elections are less than a month away and the GOP is poised to seize a majority in the Senate, though that would require winning some close races. Some are expected to come down to just a proportionally small amount of votes. RealClearPolitics rates 10 Senate races as “toss-ups” and 7 of them involve Democratic incumbents. The difference between victory and defeat will come down to voter turnout, which in turn depends on voter access laws, which state governments have been keen

Problem solving and uncompromising virtues are mutually exclusive, but in politics they lead to a new level of dysfunction. That was a reason why moderate Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, and other lawmakers that came before and after her, resigned. When the House and Senate pass bills that don’t have a chance to pass the other chamber and become law (or repeal a law), the general public doesn't see anything but inaction. Try to imagine a less politicized Congress and White House whe

According to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL), lotteries drew in $78 billion and doled out $19 billion in 2012. Lotteries have not slowed down in recent years, but when consumers have a chance to become an instant millionaire that really is not shocking. State lotteries are in 43 states, plus D.C., with over 200,000 retail locations. The chance at winning a Powerball jackpot is 1 in 175 million. In this multi-billion-dollar business, people are eager to t

Abysmal congressional approval ratings have become the norm in our hyper-partisan political environment and government dysfunction is now cited as the most pressing issue facing our nation. Problem solving and compromise have been replaced by party politics and congressional gridlock, bringing our government to a halt in 2013. But it would be a mistake to say that Republicans and Democrats don't compromise on anything. Over the last 200 years, they have worked together to create districts that

When Congress returns to session there will be many topics on the agenda ranging from a possible declaration of war against the Islamic State to immigration reform. Yet for one congressman from North Carolina, another issue takes precedence. Last December, Walter Jones, a Republican from the Tar Heel State, introduced the simply titled HR 428: Urging the president to release information regarding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks upon the United States. A short bill, Jones believes: "(

There are three methods of proportional representation advocates most commonly present: cumulative voting, limited voting, and ranked-choice voting. Each has been used in the United States, mainly in local and county elections, with decent success. The first two systems only simulate proportional voting while ranked-choice can fully incorporate proportional voting. Cumulative voting is a system used in multi-seat elections where the voter is given a number of ballots equal to the number of sea

As the 2014 general election season comes into view, absentee voters in some states will participate in the voting process under new rules. Here’s a rundown of new absentee ballot rules for Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Ohio. Colorado Colorado has shifted to an all-mail voting system. Voters still have the option of voting in person, but the vast majority choose to mail in their vote. In 2012, before the new rules were passed, 74 percent of Coloradans voted by mail. Mail v

According to a Washington Post Election Lab projection from May 2014, an incumbent in 405 of the 435 House contests has a 90 percent chance or greater of winning his or her seat, leaving only 30 seats still relatively up for grabs. Other prominent forecasters, such as the Cook or Rothenberg outfits, have similar predictions that approximately 10 percent of House races are competitive.These numbers follow a trend that has been seen in recent election cycles. In the 2002 and 2004 elections, a majo

During Clinton’s uphill re-election campaign in 1996, the president relied heavily on the aid of pollsters. With the help of strategists such as Doug Schoen, Dick Morris, and Mark Penn, the president identified the concerns and personalities of swing voters (such as whether they preferred the TV shows Friends or Home Improvement) and sampled slogans -- even entire paragraphs of speeches -- in order to discover how to appeal to them. In the midst of this re-branding of the president and the stra

Two federal district courts are expected to rule on the constitutionality of ag-gag laws, laws which make it illegal for undercover investigators -- often from established animal rights groups -- to enter agricultural operations under false pretenses and make audio or video recordings documenting animal abuse. A coalition of animal rights groups, including the Center for Food Safety and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, joined the American Civil Liberties Union and nearly a dozen other litigants i