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The reform landscape has changed over the last few years. Solutions that were once presented at odds with each other have combined efforts to give voters fairer, more equitable, and more accountable elections. The first success story of this can be found in Alaska, where the state conducted its first top-four nonpartisan primary for most of its elections on August 16, and used ranked choice voting for the first time in a special election for the state’s single congressional seat. A majority of

Editor's Note: This article originally published on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ The Voting Rights Lab is tracking 2,185 bills so far this session, with 579 bills that tighten voter access or election administration and 1,041 bills that expand the rules. The rest are neutral or mixed or unclear in their impact. Georgia is processing thousands of challenges to voter registrations following the enactment of a new law authorizing such challeng

Disenchanted and disenfranchised Republicans, Democrats, and independents are joining forces to take on the two-party duopoly with a new political party build on inclusion, accountability, and better elections. The Forward Party, Serve America Movement, and Renew America Movement recently worked in parallel to strengthen the US democratic process. However, things are about to change. The three organizations announced Thursday that they are merging under one banner: Forward. “Political extremis

Editor's note: This op-ed originally published on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. Johnson is executive director of the Election Reformers Network. In recent months, we’ve gotten a crash course in the ways that our election systems are now dangerously vulnerable to partisan interference and disorder. Numerous candidates for secretary of state deny the results of the 2020 election, including several who are, or likely will be, their party’s nominee.

Increasing polarization is raising concerns over the integrity of elections. Voters find themselves election after election faced with the question: Should elected officials loyal to their party call the balls and strikes for their own team in elections? Washington independent secretary of state candidate Julie Anderson believes that election administration should be nonpartisan, both in nature and name. Anderson is running in a special election triggered by the resignation of Republican Kim W

The ballot measure process has been critical to the success of nonpartisan reforms across the country. However, according to new research by RepresentUs, 11 states have proposed over 60 laws to make it harder for citizens to have a direct say in the way their state’s political process works. Citizens have used ballot initiatives to approve independent redistricting commissions, primary reform, new voting methods, anti-corruption laws and more. It has been the single greatest tool to challenge t

Editor's Note: The pieces below feature two sides to the debate on term limits from John Aldrich, Spencer Reynolds, and Laura Del Savio. These perspectives originally published on Divided We Fall and have been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. Will a Multi-Party System Save American Democracy? Very Unlikely. But Can a Centrist Party? By John Aldrich – Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science, Duke University American democracy is in crisis. From our governm

There are few people that help steer the course of history. Dr. Peter Ackerman was one of them. Peter, who has been the driving force behind some of the most powerful efforts to unrig the two-party “duopoly,” passed away peacefully in his home on April 26, 2022. Among Peter’s greatest achievements was the successful passage of ranked choice voting in Maine -- a clear victory against the state’s partisan and adversarial legislature -- just one tangible achievement in a lifetime of fighting some

Michael Maxsenti, co-host of the podcast Front and Center with Steve and Michael and an advisor to the new Common Sense Party of California, joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about the podcast and the novel new party that is trying to shake things up in California. Mr. Maxsenti is a political activist who has been at the forefront of a number of initiatives designed to overcome the political divide. Along with his political interests, he also brings a strong business perspective ha

In most of the country independent voters, despite their growing numbers, are marginalized by closed partisan primary systems in which the winners are virtually pre-determined in low turnout primaries -- before independent voters can weigh in. Not so in California, where a decade-old non-partisan primary system lets all voters, including independents, vote in an open primary that advances the top two vote getters to the General Election, regardless of party. Although California’s nonpartisan s