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1. Illinois Times runs op-ed saying open primaries and redistricting reform would help ease partisan gridlock in Washington. "Open primaries would help moderate the nation’s politics, as would bipartisan redistricting commissions capable of doing away with gerrymandered districts. Increasing voter participation and improving the integrity of our elections would also help. " The only problem is we are not defining what "moderate the nation's politics" actually means, and we have to distinguish

As the 2014 general election season comes into view, absentee voters in some states will participate in the voting process under new rules. Here’s a rundown of new absentee ballot rules for Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Ohio. Colorado Colorado has shifted to an all-mail voting system. Voters still have the option of voting in person, but the vast majority choose to mail in their vote. In 2012, before the new rules were passed, 74 percent of Coloradans voted by mail. Mail v

1. Opinion piece in the Montgomery Advertiser advocates adopting a nonpartisan, top-two open primary system in Alabama. "Even more importantly, however, this eliminates the unfair choices that some voters have to make under the current system. Because they can only vote in one party's primary, voters are sometimes forced to choose between voting in a local race contested in one primary or a district or statewide race contested in the other primary." Alabama currently has an open partisan prima

1. Plurality of Americans think the election system is unfair to voters. "A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters now say American elections are not fair to voters, up from 46% in April and the highest finding in surveys since 2004. Thirty-nine percent (39%) think elections are fair, but 14% are not sure." An additional figure from the survey shows that 68 percent of Americans, a vast majority of the voting population, believe the system is rigged

1. Letter to The Aspen Times says many Colorado voters are denied their constitutionally-protected rights of non-association and equal access to elections under the state's partisan primary system. "The U.S. Constitution and the Colorado Constitution both guarantee “freedom of association” — the freedom to associate with whom we please, which necessarily includes the freedom not to associate — to decline to associate with certain people or organizations. The U.S. Constitution and the Colorado C

"The term 'PTSD' has come into the common lexicon in a very non-specific manner, often used to refer to any type of emotional reaction to traumatic or disturbing events," said Dr. David Reiss, M.D., in an interview for IVN. Reiss is a psychiatrist from San Diego currently providing treatment within the Uniform Services Program at The Brattleboro Retreat in Vermont. It's important to understand that PTSD isn't just an abbreviation on a memo from a bureaucrat's office. It is a debilitating condit

Two federal district courts are expected to rule on the constitutionality of ag-gag laws, laws which make it illegal for undercover investigators -- often from established animal rights groups -- to enter agricultural operations under false pretenses and make audio or video recordings documenting animal abuse. A coalition of animal rights groups, including the Center for Food Safety and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, joined the American Civil Liberties Union and nearly a dozen other litigants i

In 2010, California voters passed the nonpartisan, "top-two open primary" initiative. The initiative fundamentally changed the purpose of primary elections from one conducted for the purpose of electing private party nominees, to one conducted for the purpose of narrowing the field of candidates, regardless of either the voters' or candidates' party affiliation. Since its enactment, the initiative has been challenged unsuccessfully by political parties in three separate lawsuits. Each time, the

Colorado’s primary elections are one month away, but will only allow participation from voters and politicians who affiliate with a party. Colorado’s closed primaries effectively force the 36 percent of Coloradans who are unaffiliated with any party to either affiliate or have no say in who will show up on their ballots come November. The Democratic and GOP duopoly on primary elections is especially deficient for voters in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District. Though the primaries have yet to

John Tierney, who narrowly held his Massachusetts congressional seat in 2012, is facing another difficult challenge in the 2014 election season. Tierney, a Democrat, has represented the 6th Congressional District in northeastern Massachusetts since 1997. In his last re-election, he won by less than 5,000 votes in a bitter fight with Republican opponent Richard Tisei. According to CNN, MA-6 is one of the top 5 races to watch in the 2014 election cycle. So, what makes the race such an interesting