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The success of Maine as the first state to use ranked choice voting statewide has brought newfound national attention to ranked choice voting. There’s much to like in this replacement to our fractious, problematic, and outdated plurality voting method. Voters can vote for their top choice without fear of splitting the vote. More candidates and parties can compete without the label of “spoiler.” Campaigns become more civil and less prone to negative attacks. The winner is the consensus, majority

I. The State of Self-Driving Car Technology and The Possibilities In the 1990 film, Total Recall (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone), the protagonist played by the now former governor of California hails a self-driving car with a humanoid, robotic attendant sitting where a human driver would. What makes the surreal scene eerily prophetic is how Schwarzenegger asks the AI cab driver questions like one might ask Alexa, Siri, or Google's voice assistant, and the "Johnny Cab" sasses

As of August 2018, there were 423 third party and independent candidates who filed or declared congressional runs, compared to 1,185 Democrats and 1,034 Republicans. Of these 423 individuals, there are numerous women who are making congressional runs this 2018. Here are three notable independent female candidates to watch this upcoming November: Alyse Galvin As a result of an Alaska state court decision in late 2017, independent candidate Alyse Galvin was able to compete in the 2018 Democrati

On September 15, Cole County Circuit Judge Dan Green removed a people-led reform initiative, Amendment 1, from the November Ballot. Clean Missouri, the group behind Amendment 1, submitted over 300,000 signatures from Missourians who want to fight corruption. Supporters vowed to immediately appeal the decision. Lobbyists and special interests are trying to silence Missourians by stopping us from voting on Amendment 1, but we won’t let them get away with it. Lobbyists in Missouri can give unlimi

We are just over two years away from the election night 2020, and we are now around the time where campaign teams are beginning to form, and front-runners are beginning to emerge. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he will run for re-election in 2020 and, while he will undoubtedly face opposition from his own party due to his controversies, he is almost sure to be the Republican Party’s nominee for the next election. While Trump is disruptive, his voter base clearly wants him to remai

In his first two budgets, President Trump proposed steep cuts in foreign aid, but Congress didn't approve them and the final bills kept the money flowing overseas. So last month Trump instructed the State Department to freeze $3 billion in funds for projects in Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank, leading to broad push back from Congress, special interests, and lobbying groups like the One Campaign (whose goal is to allocate one percent of ever federal budget to foreign aid). In the face of increas

The point, they say, of campaign debates is to give the public a chance to get to know the candidates and understand the differences between them on issues, policy and the like. When I watched the KCPT Kansas Gubernatorial Debate that was hosted by the Johnson County Bar Association last week, prepared to follow the nuances of the discussion, I was instead struck by something else entirely. There were three candidates on the stage. Three. A Republican. A Democrat. And an Independent. And everyo

Political reformers across America are paying close attention to key elections on November 6. But their focus is not on candidates or political parties. It’s about how Americans vote on ballot measures to unrig the system. Here are some highlights: Voters Not Politicians (Michigan) In Michigan, an anti-gerrymandering measure is on the ballot after Voters Not Politicians gathered more than 425,000 petition signatures with only volunteers within just 110 days. The measure creates an independen

In the current political environment, the perception is that there is much that divides Americans. Yet there is one important thing that unites most people across the political spectrum: the idea that America's political system is not working for the people and something needs to change. Donald Trump often uses the term "drain the swamp." Regardless of how one feels about the president as a person or leader, most voters agree with the sentiment -- though are not sold that anyone in Washington w

I greatly admire and appreciate moving, memorable speeches, and former President Barack Obama has given many. Some of his most powerful have been when he stepped outside of his role as a politician. I cannot help but think of the timeless eulogy, more than a speech, that he gave at the funeral of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, in which Obama remembered and memorialized the pastor and the eight parishioners killed by a white supremacist gunman at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charle