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AUGUSTA, MAINE - US Rep. Bruce Poliquin filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday to stop ranked choice voting in Maine's 2nd Congressional District. The suit, filed against Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, is seeking an injunction to stop vote tabulation in what would be the first US House race in history to be decided by ranked choice voting. Maine made history in 2018 as the first to use ranked choice voting for statewide, legislative, and US House and Senate primary elections. Due to a non

I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I am an independent who believes that at this moment of partisan dysfunction and division that the health of American democracy depends on the capacity of the American people to come together, to grow and to develop. While the media is saturating us with a focus on the results of who won and who lost in the midterm elections, my attention is drawn to signs of the emergence of a bottom up nonpartisan developmental politic in our country that breaks throu

IVN Author Wes Messamore and I delve into some of the biggest races that haven't been decided in the 2018 midterms, and the controversies arising that could drag these races out longer, President Donald Trump and members of the Republican Party are calling "FRAUD" in states like Arizona and Florida, where the Senate races are still too close to call: * In Florida, a manual recount is expected, along with the possibility of a lawsuit from Gov. Rick Scott and the National Republican Senate Commi

San Diego, Calif.- In the opaque world of politics, it's often times difficult to get a clear, consistent message. In San Diego, this relatively under-the-radar election reform has fundamentally changed San Diego's political accountability, and in turn, representation. In what started about three years ago with the drafting of San Diego City's Measure K by the Independent Voter Project, both the city and now the county have removed the "50%+1" rule that insiders refer to as an "incumbent prote

Fiercely partisan voters on both sides of the aisle agree on one thing: If you vote for a third party or independent candidate instead of one with an "(R)" or "(D)" printed next to their name in the newspapers, you are basically just "throwing away" your vote. In their political calculus, a principled vote is a wasted vote unless it's for a candidate that's polling as one of the top two in an election, and for them it's better to cast a damage control vote for the least bad option that has a ch

AUGUSTA, MAINE - Tens of thousands of voters have already voted in the Maine elections, and state officials expect higher-than-normal turnout for the 2018 midterms Tuesday. The midterm surge comes during the historic use of ranked choice voting for US House and Senate races. Maine has for years set itself apart from the rest of the nation for high turnout. Nearly 73% of eligible voters participated in the 2016 presidential election. Not very many states can boast such high numbers. Interesting,

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - The 2018 midterms are coming to a close. Control of Congress is at stake. The future direction of US policy on a range of issues is at stake. In many states, the future of the electoral and political process is at stake as well. The media is obsessed with the red versus blue battle across the country in a nationalized narrative that takes away from the issues and values important to voters. They turn to the pollsters to predict a red wave or a blue wave. Yet what if we are

Although his election forecasting website, FiveThirtyEight, still gives Democrats a 7 in 8 chance (87%) of winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Republicans a paltry 1 in 8 chance (13%), statistician Nate Silver hedged rather significantly in an interview on ABC's This Week Sunday. Silver– who rose to national prominence after accurately forecasting an impressive number of vote tallies in the 2008 elections, earning himself a spot in The World's 100 Most Influential People b

Many political commentators today are perplexed by what seems to be the increasing polarization of the two party system in America, and the rising tensions that have accompanied a rhetorical arms race of inflammatory cross fire. It is my contention that the Republican and Democratic Parties are not in fact drifting further apart than ever before, but over recent decades have actually become more and more like each other, and that today they are nearly indistinguishable from each other in terms

San Diego, Calif.- Oprah Winfrey is a registered independent, wait... what? The cultural icon said she has "earned the right to think for myself and to vote for myself." At a rally in Marietta, Georgia for gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Oprah emphasized the importance of getting out to vote over any partisan or policy message. Independents across the country let out a collective, hell yes! Oprah The Independent Winfrey announced why she is not beholden to the two-party dysfunction