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The average voter turnout in New Jersey’s primary elections is just 8 percent, and it costs taxpayers $12 million to administer each election cycle. Despite these facts, Governor Chris Christie’s administration defends its taxpayer-funded, exclusive, and private closed-primary election process against a legal challenge asserting the right of all voters to be treated equally. In its brief, the Christie administration argued: “…a voter who feels disenfranchised because of a regulation that condi

On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the constitutionality of independent redistricting commissions to redraw electoral districts. The ruling was a major victory for voters, because it also validated the citizen initiative process and the voter's right to decide how they are governed. But the legal battle over redistricting is far from over. Politico reported Tuesday that major litigation remains in key battleground states ahead of the 2016 elections. Continued redistrictin

Arizona Public Media reported last week that former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson is once again leading an effort to implement a top-two primary in Arizona similar to the electoral systems in California and Washington state. Johnson led the push to put the top-two system on the 2012 ballot, and voters rejected it by a two-to-one margin. He thinks putting a top-two ballot measure in front of Arizona voters in 2016 would have different results. “The grassroots, nonpartisan movement is really a natio

On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the use of an independent redistricting commission to decide how electoral districts are drawn in Arizona. The 5-4 decision validated the citizen initiative process, which Arizona voters used to implement the state's independent redistricting commission in 2000, ruling that it was "invented in full harmony with the Constitution's conception of the people as the font of government power." "Both parts of the Elections Clause are in line wit

The 2012 presidential election was certainly the most expensive in American history. President Obama's re-election effort cost $1.1 billion, including nearly $700 million spent directly by his campaign. Mitt Romney's campaign spent over $400 million, but he received almost $800 million in additional outside help. The cost of the 2016 presidential election, however, is expected to surpass these figures. One estimate reaches as high as $5 billion, and Hillary Clinton's campaign might spend as muc

In December 2014, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed by Congress to provide the budget and appropriations to sustain the Department of Defense. Tucked into the bill at the last minute – and without public debate – was a provision to hand thousands of acres of protected land in Arizona to an international mining company. The deal nationalized 5,300 acres of land belonging to Resolution Copper Mining, an Australian-British jointly owned corporation, in ex

Denver, Colo. -- Across the country, independent/nonpartisan organizations committed to fundamental political reform and equal rights for every voter are hard at work fighting the good fight on a wide variety of ambitious and necessary projects. From primary election initiatives at the state level, to suing state governments for equal protection in federal court, to demanding equal access to presidential debates, to seeking viable independent candidates to run for office in 2016 -- there is an

We do not get our right to vote because we are white, black, gay, straight, male, female, conservative, liberal, a member of a private organization or any other criteria other than what makes us American: citizenship.Often, when talking to my conservative friends about “democracy,” they are quick to point out that the United States is a “constitutional republic,” and to “stop saying that America is a democracy!” And so I stop and read the first three words of the preamble of the Constitution. “

When people give money to a charity, they give it with the hope that their donation will go toward whatever cause the charity represents, whether it be cancer research, global health care and/or relief efforts, helping war-torn areas, etc. The hope is that the money will actually do some good and the charity is out to do something noble. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. According to CNN, 4 cancer charities operated by members of the same extended family took $187 million in donations

This week, the Washington Post published an analysis of Georgia's gerrymandering problem. Gerrymandering is the practice of manipulating electoral boundaries to favor one political party or dilute the voting power of specific voting blocs. Georgia's redistricting process is overseen by its legislature, a common theme among states with a history of uncompetitive elections. In addition to a surprising lack of competition in the 2014 elections, the Washington Post found: "But really, it's not th