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One of the most interesting and important legal fights going on right now centers around the scope of the First Amendment rights of political parties. In a variety of contexts, the parties have asserted their rights over the rights of the people. How can it be, however, that the rights of parties formed by the people can trump the rights of the people, through their elected government or otherwise, to determine how their elections for their public officials can be organized? What are the right

Colorado voters are tired of the Republican and Democratic Parties and the gridlock they have created in the state legislature. Now, one of the leading states for independents may have an opportunity to break up the two-party power structure. These are the findings of a recent Centrist Project survey of over 2,000 likely Colorado voters. According to the survey: * 53 percent of Colorado voters believe the two parties are not working together in the state legislature to solve problems facing c

While most of the national media's election coverage is focused on the upcoming 2018 elections, there are many contentious races happening right now. One such race that independents should pay attention to is in Manitou Springs, Colorado, where the mayoral race is heating up. Incumbent independent Mayor Nicole Nicoletta is being challenged by Democrat Ken Jaray. With political party polarization at levels unseen in modern United States history, voters are looking for common-sense, independent-

Chad Peace, attorney for the Independent Voter Project, as well as 6 high-profile signatories, filed an amicus brief on September 22, 2017, in support of a legal challenge brought by Level the Playing Field (LPF). On October 13, Peace spoke about the brief and its significance to changing the exclusionary presidential debate rules on NBC7 in San Diego. "The brief argues that the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates' (CPD) 15 percent rule exacerbates the political divide in the US, lea

Independent candidate Terry Hayes officially launched her clean elections campaign for the governor's seat in Maine Monday. Hayes was joined by family, friends, and supporters as she made her announcement during press conferences in Portland and Bangor. “I am running as an independent, clean elections candidate for Governor because I choose to be beholden to the Maine people, and not to party leaders, wealthy donors, and special interests,” said Terry. “I have the experience, independence, and

California Governor Jerry Brown signed two bills Thursday that will give San Diego County voters greater control in county elections. AB 801 restructures the county's Independent Redistricting Commission by creating a representative 14-member commission that is not solely comprised of retired judges like the current commission's structure requires. It will now be a bipartisan panel representing all 5 supervisorial districts. The bill will affect the redistricting process after the 2020 decenni

Maine ranked choice voting (Question 5) was approved in November with the second-largest referendum victory in state history. Voters sent a clear message to their legislators and Maine officials: they wanted a new, better way to conduct elections. So it was no surprise how angry and frustrated voters got when lawmakers tried to repeal ranked choice voting earlier this year. Mainers showed up to the capitol in droves, overflowing committee hearing rooms to show support for ranked choice voting.

Maine independent gubernatorial candidate and State Treasurer Terry Hayes announced Friday that she has picked Kyle Bailey to be her campaign manager. Bailey managed the statewide referendum campaign to get ranked choice voting in state and non-presidential federal elections. It was the second-largest referendum victory in Maine history. Bailey also was the Maine Finance Director for the successful 2012 campaign to legalize same-sex marriage. “I am incredibly pleased that Kyle will be managin

Should lawmakers be allowed to draw electoral districts to protect their party from competition? Can the courts rule legislative and congressional maps unconstitutional on the basis of partisan and political discrimination? Those are among the questions the Supreme Court is considering in the case Gill v. Whitford. To give you a brief overview, Gill v. Whitford is a partisan gerrymandering case out of Wisconsin in which a group of Democratic voters are challenging legislative districts drawn b

The voting method is extremely important and affects all parts of the election from who wins, how seriously candidates’ ideas are taken, and who you see on your ballot. Specifically, the choose-one plurality voting method that we use now is really bad. Fortunately, there are alternatives. One that works really well and is also very easy is called approval voting. This method lets you choose as many candidates as you want. Whoever has the most votes wins. Approval voting works with our current