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This election, an estimated five million eligible voters will be disenfranchised from the political process due to new voter identification laws. These de-facto voter suppression laws not only make it harder to register to vote, but also place restrictions on voting, creating an obstacle to eligible voters who lack government issued identification. The Brennan Center for Justice released a study in which they outlined the changes in voting laws we face in the 2012 election and the adverse affec

Last week, IVN commented on a lawsuit brought by alleged delegates to the Republican National Convention. The Republican National Committee, while stating that suit was frivolous at the same time organized all the named defendants into a united defense against this litigation. There is no indication yet that the complaint in the action was served on any defendant or that the RNC has voluntarily appeared and moved to take any pretrial actions. What is clear: Ron Paul's delegate count continues to

In terms of bizarre twists, last week, a lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California – entitled Delegates To The Republican National Convention vs. Republican National Committee [SACV 12- 00927 DOC (JPRx)]. The Paul campaign is keeping its distance for good reason – it is a very flawed suit. The United States District Court Judge in this action is David O. Carter, a no-nonsense judge and a former prosecutor. While the Republican delegate selection pr

There are few topics in the United States that trigger a patriotic spirit as fiercely as mentioning members of the US military. Particularly in a post-9/11 world, most American civilians and loved ones of veterans share a fervent sense of gratitude and indebtedness to the countless souls who've joined the Armed Forces. Towns are filled with American flags, millions of cars sport yellow ribbons emblazoned with the phrase, "Support the Troops," and numerous holidays, parades and festivals draw leg

Walter Jones of the Savannah Morning News examines the possibility of California's new open primary system as electoral reform in Georgia. The idea is that allowing independents and members of both major parties to select the nominees would force candidates to take moderate stances. It would end the zigzag common to most elections where a candidate has to run to the right or the left to win the nomination and then race to the middle for the general election.Georgia uses the same mechanism in sp

While the mainstream media has Governor Mitt Romney’s nomination as a lock, Dr. Ron Paul continues to accumulate delegates at a healthy pace. So many delegates, in fact, the Republican parties in more than one state are trying to impose loyalty oaths in order to disenfranchise elected Paul delegates currently pledged to other candidates. The Boston Globe editorialized recently against these state Republican strategies, citing that “rules can’t be changed midway through the process just because t

Attempts to tackle comprehensive immigration reform at the state level has wounded agriculture and exposed an unavoidable issue for farm-state lawmakers seeking election in 2012. Because U.S. citizens, by and large, will not work in farm fields and because partisan gridlock over amnesty has kept comprehensive immigration reform off Congress' to-do list, agricultural stakeholders are pleading with lawmakers to reform the country's immigration policy to accommodate an ag-centric guest worker progr

According to a new study from the Pew Research Center, Mexican immigration has slowed dramatically over the last decade, and net migration may have even gone negative. That’s right, Mitt Romney’s dream has come true and more Mexicans may be leaving America (both voluntarily and involuntarily) than entering. Whether this is happening because of stricter identification laws and immigration enforcement, as Romney would prefer, is still in question: the Pew Center cannot identify for sure why the l

When the nation's farmers started experiencing labor shortages last year they didn't know what to expect for the future; for many, the situation was without precedent. Early indicators for the 2012 season don't bode well for the nation's specialty crop growers who rely mainly on human labor instead of power-driven machines to bring their produce to market. No one is hitting the panic button just yet, but the situation is a bit scary. According to Seattle NPR affiliate KPLU, growers in Washingto

With Earth Day coming up this weekend, it might be helpful to remember that the worst polluter on planet Earth is not a major corporation, but the United States federal government, and if we're going to be serious about reducing our impact on the environment, we need to advocate for less, not more government.Indeed, the federal government is the single largest consumer of energy with 500,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles. In 2009 alone, the government's bill for utilities and fuel totaled $24