Search query: ohio

Once again, Arizona is back in the headlines, and once again, it's caused a national uproar. As the same-sex marriage debate continues to snowball in the public square, the Grand Canyon state now waits to see whether or not Governor Jan Brewer will sign the controversial 'Religious Freedom Restoration Act'. Supporters of the law say that it only strengthens existing laws and seeks to ensure everyone's religious freedoms are protected against religious discrimination. Opponents of the law, howe

Campaigns are big business. And, like any business, it requires raw materials in order to produce a finished product. In elections the raw material is money and the finished product is power and influence. Campaign contributions are closely regulated. According to the Federal Elections Commission, an individual is limited to $2,600 per candidate or candidate committee per election. The limit on contributions to a national party in a year is $32,400 and only $10,000 to any state, district, or lo

It seems that in every cycle there is debate about which states should hold the first presidential primary elections. Some state always seems to try to jump ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire. Since 1972, the Iowa Caucuses have been first in the nation and New Hampshire has been the first "primary" since 1920. There, of course, have been states that have attempted to circumvent Iowa and New Hampshire, claiming that they don't truly represent America as they are small states with seemingly narrow

While the entire military voting system is broken, there are some states whose military absentee voting records are particularly shocking, and it seems that the Department of Defense and state voting officials are simply passing the buck -- pointing the finger at each other as the problem. In the end, it adds up to the disenfranchisement of military voters. According to a report from the Military Voter Protection Project (MVPP), the picture during the 2012 election was not pretty, and unless s

In Illinois, Democrats hold 12 out of 18 U.S. congressional districts. In the 12th district, one chosen by National Journal as likely to flip, Republicans are hoping to make the switch happen. The 12th district stretches from East St. Louis in the west -- with a chunk removed in the middle -- to the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in the south. The district leans Democrat, is largely agricultural, but might be leaving its incumbent vulnerable. The incumbent is Democrat Bill Enya

The electric chair could make a comeback in Virginia. Due to a shortage of the drugs used for lethal injection, the Virginia House of Delegates recently passed a bill (proposed by Del. Jackson Miller, R-Manassas) that would allow electrocution of condemned prisoners, rather than giving them a choice which way they prefer to die. The bill still has to go through the Senate before becoming law, however, and Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Richard Dieter thinks it's unlikely to

The House and Senate passed a consolidated appropriations bill for the final six months of the fiscal year, circumventing the formal appropriations process. The extreme voices on both sides of the aisle appear to have quieted down. The leadership in the House of Representatives has stated immigration reform will be taken up in the lower chamber in 2014. The 2014 mid-term elections campaign season must be in full swing. In the week since Congress passed a consolidated spending bill, political pu

In the Buckeye State, Republican Governor John Kasich looks ahead to re-election in 2014 as his name gets circulated as a potential presidential candidate in 2016. Democrats are lining up behind First County Executive of Cuyahoga County, Ed FitzGerald, while Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune has also entered the primary. Previously, the Ohio Legislature passed and Governor Kasich signed a law that would have required minor party candidates to accumulate more than 20,000 signatures by F

Massachusetts passed the first wage law in 1912, followed soon after by thirteen more states and the District of Columbia. However, the Supreme Court ruling in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935) resulted in the defeat of a major provision of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and further efforts would not succeed until Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938. A national minimum wage was established at $0.25 per hour.A few very sobering facts: , a startling perspec

On Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked new restrictions on ballot access for third parties in Ohio. The decision is a victory for third parties in the state as well as advocates for greater ballot access for candidates not affiliated with the two mainstream political parties. The law, which was recently passed by the Republican-controlled Ohio Legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor John Kasich in November, would have -- among other things -- voided eligible parties' ex