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Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum, and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ In 2020, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated more than $400 million to state and local governments to boost election administration funding. Since then, more than a dozen states, nearly all controlled by Republicans, have passed laws banning such private contributions. The funds, which were administered by a pair of nonprofit

It doesn’t seem like there is much these days that can unite Republicans and Democrats. However, one thing both parties have consistently agreed on is that nothing should threaten their grip on power. The current electoral process is designed to serve the interests of the dominant two parties and their members. If there is a reform that threatens to upset the apple cart, it will encounter resistance from those who have the most to lose from a fairer, more equitable process. This will include l

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished in its entirety on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ President Biden gave Ukraine top billing and said fighting inflation is the “top priority” during his State of the Union address Tuesday. But he also spoke at length about building a unity agenda and — very briefly — called for passage of election reform legislation. Three years ago, House Democrats first introduced the For the People Act, givin

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on the IVN Network with permission from the publisher. ‍ The massive elections reform bill known as the Freedom to Vote Act appears to be headed down the same path as its predecessor: blocked from Senate consideration by a Republican filibuster. Senate Democrats plan to bring the compromise bill to the floor Wednesday for a procedural vote that would allow lawmakers to begin debating the legislation. Howe

The Freedom to Vote Act, which would make a number of major changes to election law in the United States, is could come up for a vote soon. The bill includes a number of provisions, including a ban on partisan gerrymandering for congressional districts, new registration and early voting requirements for federal elections, and a federal voter ID provision. However, an underreported aspect of the Freedom to Vote Act (and largely uncontroversial) is that it would make the first Tuesday after the f

It’s January 2021, there’s a new president in D.C., a new Senate majority and a Democratic majority crowing about how voting rights is their top priority, even making the For the People Act their first bill (H.R. 1 in the House and S. 1 in the Senate). Cut to nine months later. It’s now September 2021. President Biden has spent more time focusing on an Afghanistan withdrawal than on pressuring Congress to pass voting rights legislation. The For the People Act has been passed by the House of Re

Thanks to the Constitutionally-mandated periodic census, the House of Representatives will look a lot different for the 2022 midterm elections, with some states gaining seats, some losing them, and partisan gerrymanders sprouting across the nation like sunflowers. As a result, Republicans, it seems certain, will be in a far better position to retake control of the chamber. The cause of this upheaval, the 2020 census, was the most controversial in recent memory. Ordinarily, this once-every-ten-y

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in The Fulcrum, and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ A tallying error by the New York City Board of Elections threw the otherwise smoothly run ranked-choice voting primary into disarray on Tuesday. The Board of Elections accidentally included 135,000 test ballots in its unofficial vote tally, but has not yet counted the more than 124,000 absentee ballots. The erroneous results showed Kathryn Garcia within reach

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ When Sen. Joe Manchin's office told CNN this week that he opposes the For the People Act, the West Virginia Democrat struck a fatal blow to his party's signature legislation to overhaul the elections, redistricting, campaign finance and ethics rules. From its debut in 2019, the legislation was considered a long shot at best and likely nothing more than a messag

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in The Fulcrum, and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ Nearly every state legislature is considering bills to either roll back pandemic-era voting easements or make permanent the rules that allowed a record-breaking number of Americans to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day. But with election officials already looking ahead to the 2022 midterms, the Center for Election Innovation and Research is concerned wit