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Editor's Note: This article originally published on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission form the publisher. ‍ New Jersey has become the first state to back away from a pandemic-driven switch to conducting elections almost entirely remotely. Projections of declining Covid-19 cases by the spring prompted Gov. Phil Murphy's announcement Monday that the state's longtime reliance on in-person voting will resume for school board elections in April, municipal contests in May

What is the duopoly? On the surface this may seem like a common sense question: We have a political system dominated by two major parties. Hence, we have a duopoly. That simple, right?  Yet, the reasons we have a two-party duopoly in the US are far more nuanced. The Republican and Democratic Parties win nearly every partisan electoral contest in the US. But, this is not the reason for the duopoly, but a symptom of it, and unfortunately the damaging effects the duopoly has had on the political

Democrats, if they acted out of more than pique and the need to feed red meat to their base, hoped that the second impeachment would prevent Trump from running again, legally disqualifying him. Justice Roberts put the lie to that when he signaled that he would not preside because it was not, constitutionally speaking, an impeachment, as Trump was no longer in office. Moreover, if anything, the impeachment will keep Trump’s base engaged and in sympathy with their leader. It has become clear that

It has become clear that there is not even close to the 2/3 majority needed in the Senate to vote to convict. While the House vote to impeach helped the Democrats shape the post capitol incursion, post inaugural narrative, it has left the Democratic leadership “all dressed up...

‍ There are a number of nonpartisan reforms being proposed to address the myriad of deep systemic problems that ensure US elections primarily serve the private, gain-seeking interests of the Republican and Democratic Parties, instead of voters. There is no cure-all, no silver bullet. Change is going to require a comprehensive approach. However, one solution that easily has the most momentum behind it across the country is ranked choice voting. Ranked choice voting, or the ability to rank ca

Ranked choice voting, or the ability to rank candidates on the ballot in order of preference instead of simply choosing one, has been adopted and/or implemented in 21 cities and 2 states, representing a total voting age population of over 9.2 million people.

Without the tempering influence of moderation, the public face of politics is dissolved into banal drama. Extremists engage in theatrical behavior by demonizing their foes in bitterly careless terms.

Editor's Note: The following is a speech given by Steve Peace in 1998 along with additional supporting documents from research and extracted passages from earlier drafts of the speech. He believes what he said then. And, he believes it today. This speech is even more relevant today than it was back then as we see the continued downward spiral of politics and political discourse in the United States: ‍ Shortly after the November elections, a prominent national magazine ran a feature story decla

Election integrity became a hot button issue during and in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. It is a phrase voters have heard a lot since November 3, as Donald Trump and many of his supporters claim widespread fraud took place that denied him re-election. Lawmakers and advocates who stood by the president and vowed to challenge the election results said they were doing it for the sake of the integrity of the electoral process. Challenging the legitimacy of elections is becoming more

Election integrity became a hot button issue during and in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. It is a phrase voters have heard a lot since November 3, as Donald Trump and many of his supporters claim widespread fraud took place that denied him re-election.