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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. Absentee voting refers to when a voter requests a ballot for an election and is then sent one in the mail. Vote-by-mail, which is what Sen. Tom Cotton is most likely referring to as "mass mail-in voting," is a system of sending every registered voter (an important distinction from "everyone") a ballot without a request. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Colorado, Hawa

The vast majority of people who were unhoused in California before coronavirus swept across the state are exactly where they were. Encampments still line the streets. Shelters feel more like a risk than a refuge. And affordable housing is as elusive as ever. Watch as they capture moments from their everyday lives — and talk about how they struggle to stay safe and healthy under circumstances that have often grown only more hazardous. For the above mini-doc, CalMatters interviewed people experi

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ With fewer than a hundred days to the presidential election, almost half the states have now altered some normal laws or regulations to make casting a ballot easier and safer in light of the coronavirus. Most of the changes so far, but not all of them, are designed to promote voting by mail — the healthiest way to exercise the franchise this year, but a practic

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ Proponents of expanded voting by mail during the pandemic won victories Monday in three states, two of them solid blue but one of them reliably red. The top elections official in Alabama, a Republican, decreed that fear of the coronavirus would be reason enough to vote absentee for president this year. Vermont joined the handful of states that have decided to s

Nebraska, landlocked deep in America’s heartland, has paradoxically set itself apart as an anomaly in the US political ecosystem -- from the way it allocates presidential electors, to the makeup of its legislature, to how state policymakers are elected. Some reformers even look at it as a potential model for what a better representative democracy looks like, and it is because of the nonpartisan manner by which legislators are elected, and the impact that has had on the legislative process. “

Lori Thiel and Amy Tobia join host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss More Choice San Diego’s "Top 4 RCV" initiative. Ms. Thiel is president of the League of Women Voters of San Diego. The League of Women Voters is a national, nonpartisan, political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government; works to increase understanding of major public policy issues; and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Ms. Tobia is a local leader for Represe

A group supporting nonpartisan open primaries in Florida recently released a new ad urging voters to vote "Yes" on Amendment 3 in November. Amendment 3 would replace the state's closed partisan primary system with a nonpartisan top-two primary similar to the statewide primary systems in California and Washington. "There are 3 and a half million voters in Florida like me who don't belong to a political party, and we can't vote in the primaries," says one Florida voter in the video. "Ninety perce

Alaskans have an opportunity to level the playing field in elections, give voters more choice, and end secret money in politics with one vote in November. All they have to do is vote “Yes” on Ballot Measure 2. Ballot Measure 2 is a comprehensive better government measure that combines a nonpartisan primary system with ranked choice voting in the general election, and requires stronger finance disclosure rules to end the practice of dark money spending by special interest groups. The campai

2020 is already a year to remember – a world-wide pandemic, militant Black-led protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer, and a presidential election. It is fair to ask what the election has to do with the other two. Will it bring anything more than efforts by both major parties and their less than inspiring candidates to use these devastating events to their advantage? Those who call themselves reformers cannot ignore this question. At a minimum, we n

Most people know the story: Moments after the Constitutional Convention ended in 1787, Ben Franklin walked out of Independent Hall and was approached by a woman. The woman asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a monarchy or a republic?” Franklin replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” The account is quoted everywhere from the classroom to the Halls of Congress. The message is simple: A form of government that is responsive to the people can be easily lost if the people become complacent