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On Thursday, January 15, oral arguments were made before the California State Appeals Court in San Francisco in the case Rubin v. Bowen. Third parties continue to challenge the nonpartisan, top-two open primary in the state, claiming that the system violates the association rights of political parties and disenfranchises third-party voters in the general election. Richard Winger, who runs the site Ballot-Access.org, wrote a post on the oral arguments, implying that third parties were poorly re

At a time when fewer than 35 of 435 Congressional races are competitive, political spending in midterm elections has never been higher. The projected total for the 2014 elections was $3.67 billion. This includes spending from outside groups, candidates, and political parties -- funded by small and big donors alike -- according to a breakdown of spending by the Center for Responsive Politics. Source: Maryland PIRG and Demos Ten races alone ended up costing more than $40 million as a result of ou

Registered nurses organized strikes across the country on Wednesday to protest care standards in the wake of the Ebola crisis, even as some hospitals wrangled with union members over their pensions, pay, and collective bargaining rights. National Nurses United, the Maryland-based union responsible for organizing the demonstrations, laid claim to 100,000 nurses joining protests over prevention and care standards nationwide.“The lack of concern for nurses and patients in a world where corporation

Republicans swept the 2014 midterm elections on Tuesday, capturing the Senate and delivering a stinging defeat to Democrats that will likely define the next two years.If the 2010 midterms were a “shellacking,” as President Barack Obama famously called it, the 2014 midterms were probably more comparable to an alleyway beating. Republicans not only won the out-of-reach Senate with 52 seats by Wednesday, but also entrenched their formidable 244-member House majority and picked up three more governo

According to Gallup, 42 percent of Americans self-identify as independent from either major party. But when it comes to our primary elections, the independent/unaffiliated/nonpartisan voter can be completely locked out of primaries, forced to choose a party in order to vote in a primary election, or live in a state where one party has an open primary and the other has a closed primary, even though their tax dollars subsidize both elections.Chances are, when the general election rolls around, vot

On July 31, freshman U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) introduced a bill titled, “Open Our Democracy Act,” which was referred to the Committees on House Administration, Oversight and Government Reform, and the Judiciary. The bill proposes the following: * All congressional primaries be open, top-two races. * The candidates that appear in the primary ballot have the option of designating their party preference or declaring no preference at all. * Election Day will be designated a public holiday

According to RealClearPolitics, approximately 13.4 percent of Americans approve of Congress and 77.8 percent disapprove, taking the average of 6 major surveys on congressional approval. Congress’ underwater popularity has served as a fount of political humor and -- regarding the reasoning of those who apparently approve of Congress -- speculation. According to some (questionable) attempts to categorize Congress’ fan base, it is made up of honest-to-goodness optimists, Obama haters, actual clown

1. Ralph Nader criticizes the use of "spoiler" to describe independent and third-party candidates and how the major parties treat these candidates to maintain their dominance in elections. "Remember that the words "political parties," "corporation" and "company" are not even mentioned in our Constitution, raising the central question of why they are ruling "we the people" today." While Nader does not raise the issue, the above quote should also be considered when we talk about all aspects of t

Most Americans have come to see our political system as highly dysfunctional. An October 2013 Gallup poll shows that 60 percent of Americans do not feel well-represented by either major party and favor the formation of a third “independent” party. Another Gallup poll, dated June 30, 2014, places confidence in the Supreme Court at 30 percent, the presidency at 29 percent, and Congress at just 7 percent. Another pollster recently showed that Americans view dysfunction in government as the number

1. Op-ed in The Salt Lake Tribune says 2014 will be a year for independent voters in Utah. "Primary elections are pivotal in the democratic process and are often the most competitive. But in Utah, independents are compelled to affiliate with a party or accept an abridged ballot. We could stand pat and limit ourselves to voting on issues and ancillary races, but that is acquiescing to an abridged ballot – one largely devoid of candidates — for the simple reason that we would not join a pre-appro