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As of February 6, there have been 121 reported cases of the measles in 17 states and Washington, D.C., in 2015 alone. If the measles outbreak continues at this pace, the number of reported cases in 2015 will surpass 2014's record-setting numbers. Measles cases: Jan. 1 to Feb. 6, 2015. There are 121 cases reported in Washington, DC and 17 states (California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Texas, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, N

In 2010, voters approved Proposition 14. This measure fundamentally changed California’s partisan primaries conducted under rules determined by private political parties into a nonpartisan system in which the purpose of the primary became a public one in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election. This change has empowered millions of California voters with a meaningful opportunity to affect the outcome of elections in California. Nonpartisan voters ar

Privacy has been a major concern for the American public in the last several years, primarily because of leaked or released information about government projects involving collecting information about civilian activity. Concerns about the government keeping records of movements, Internet searches, and even conversations have prompted some states to pass legislation to enhance personal privacy protections. On January 26, new information regarding a program called the License Plate Recognition In

The call for body-worn video cameras on police officers is growing across the United States. Laws to require the use of these cameras were introduced in almost a dozen states in January, including California. While many associate the spark of the discussion around body-worn police cameras with Ferguson, Missouri, Los Angeles was the center of another August incident, where an unarmed black man was fatally shot in an altercation with police. The incident, which resulted in the death of Ezell For

The League of Women Voters (LWV) has filed an amicus brief (friend of the court) in the U.S. Supreme Court case Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The LWV sides with the independent redistricting commission (and lower court), arguing that the state legislature acts in an extremely hyper-partisan manner, which only hurts the political process. At issue in the case is the constitutionality of independent redistricting commissions. The outcome of the case,

Independent voters are the fastest growing voting bloc in the U.S. The number of people who self-identify as neither Republican nor Democrat has been on a steady incline since 2008. In the last two years alone, the number of voters registered without a party preference has increased by hundreds of thousands of voters, increasing the number of states where independent voters exceed party registration. There are several states that do not require voters to declare their political affiliation whe

On Thursday, January 15, oral arguments were made before the California State Appeals Court in San Francisco in the case Rubin v. Bowen. Third parties continue to challenge the nonpartisan, top-two open primary in the state, claiming that the system violates the association rights of political parties and disenfranchises third-party voters in the general election. Richard Winger, who runs the site Ballot-Access.org, wrote a post on the oral arguments, implying that third parties were poorly re

On Thursday, Arizona became the first state in the U.S. to pass a law requiring high school students to pass a civics exam before graduating. Lawmakers who support the bill say students don't know enough about basic government, but would requiring such a test actually have the desired effect of producing better citizens? The American Civics Act will require students to pass 60 out of the 100 questions on the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization civics test. The bill will likely be the quickest

As expected of every election season, political gaffes were bound to happen. Gaffes have been associated with campaign exhaustion, an unsuccessful attempt at humor, or a lack of emotional discipline. Aside from acting as fodder for jokes or fuel for opponents, flubs made by political leaders and candidates alike can create a personal insight that their political image would not allow. Scott Walker Even after a successful 2014 reelection bid, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) still managed to la

The $560 billion 2015 National Defense Authorization Act passed Congress recently, and the details of the bill have military families worried. In addition to the usual appropriations for aircraft, tanks, and buildings, the bill includes funding for fighting military sexual trauma and conducting various research studies, but it cuts service members pay and benefits. One would hope that members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees carefully read the half-trillion-dollar bill to be s