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Reports of National Security Agency surveillance capabilities and oversight continue to surpass previous assumptions. Dragnet data collection lie at the center of legal and privacy concerns. This week, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) introduced the USA Freedom Act. According to the bill, the act's stated purpose is, To reform the authorities of the Federal Government to require the production of certain business records, conduct electronic

What originally began as a way to weaken the power of political machines such as Tammany Hall, primary elections gradually became a way for the two mainstream political parties to control the electoral process while creating a clearer divide between the parties. Both Republicans and Democrats began appealing to their bases in the primaries just to make it to the general election. Mark Frohnmayer, a scion of Oregon politics and a self-described “serial entrepreneur,” has picked up the torch to t

Political scientists and party pollsters run with a common narrative: Independent voters are a myth. "We think of them as closet partisans who act in almost indistinguishable ways to those who identify as partisans," Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth explains in a recent National Journal article. There is a group of independent voters, however, that defy this reasoning. Here are the top 30 reasons why, despite the partisan narrative, independent voters are not a myth: 1. Forty

The history of voting rights in the U.S. has been a long battle of disharmony and disenfranchisement since the country’s formation and although freedom and voting are frequently associated with one another in our current culture, restrictions to true freedom in this regard still remain unsettled, contentious, and often unperceived. While democracy was forming in the colonies, the Old World ideology that it was nothing short of mob rule was held strongly by many prominent colonists, thereby limi

Republicans and Democrats continue to shrink and the IPO has unusual fallback. Monthly Trends: The month of September showed continued losses in membership for the Republican and Democratic Parties. The IPO lost membership at the same rate as the major parties as well. While the “other minor parties” category has seen the most growth percentage wise and has about the same total growth in registrants as NAV, all of that growth has been attributable to the Working Families Party, which has grown

The American electoral system is highly dysfunctional. One of its most basic problems is that districts and states often have lopsided partisan preferences, meaning that general elections between the nominees of the two major parties are overwhelmingly formalities. Consequently, representatives may be effectively chosen in low-turnout partisan primaries that are paid for by all taxpayers, but are often limited to only a portion of the electorate. A number of reforms have been proposed to address

Jeff Mapes of OregonLive.com covered the story of Mark Frohnmayer -- son of David Frohnmayer, an established member of Oregon politics, law, and academia -- pushing for a version of the nonpartisan top-two primary system. It is identical to California and Washington systems, but with a twist; approval voting. The Oregon initiative would complete the nonpartisan primary's trek along the West coast. It will need 87,416 signatures from registered voters to qualify for the November 2014 ballot."" -

A balance usually means that both sides have equal weight or standing. It could mean anything as mundane as putting the right amount of oregano and garlic on a slice of pizza. In a legal sense, there is a balance where the punishment should meet the crime. In politics there are checks and balances to ensure no one branch of government or political party receives too much power. These are relatively easy ideas to learn starting in a high school class on civics and government or by trial and error

Can legislation on technology ever reflect the fast-paced nature of the digital frontier? Credit: readwrite.com In a push toward increased privacy in the social media realm, Washington became the most recent state to enact a law banning employers from asking for the website or password of an employee's personal social media profile. "We're trying to assure people's privacy in this space, that we (have) vigilance and the ability to move on a moment's notice when people's privacy has been violat

Dear IVN Readers, While other outlets recycle the same old stories, IVN is proud to bring you important stories that aren’t covered anywhere else: like voter suppression in New Jersey, a revolutionary new privacy initiative introduced in California, or a Trans-Pacific Partnership that could change the way the world conducts trades. Check in this week as we bring you more original news by a growing network of independent-minded journalists and readers. - Shawn and the rest of the IVN Team Wh