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Maine became the first state in the nation to use ranked choice voting in statewide elections in June. The historic moment has boosted interest in alternative voting methods that offer better election results and an improved system for choosing elected officials. ALSO READ: Independents Made the Difference in Maine’s Ranked Choice Voting In response to IVN's coverage of Maine ranked choice voting (as well as the growing interest in the reform), a number of other voting methods have been sugges

As we get older, and hopefully wiser, we generally start to become more discerning on how we view the world and the problems we face. Many of us who seek to make the world a better place try to look at the problems, analyze them, and do what we can to correct them. However, because there are so many different problems facing us, this approach often overwhelms us and can instill a sense of hopelessness in our ability to create positive change. Looking deeper into this situation, we discover tha

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

The "travel ban" is a clickbait phrase that's become a popular subject for the 24-hour news cycle. SCOTUS's decision to mostly reinstate President Trump's ban is certainly getting most of the attention, but there's another travel ban that should be making headlines -- but has largely gone unnoticed. California has banned state-funded and state-sponsored travel to EIGHT states that it says has laws discriminating against LGBTQ groups. The eight states are: Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, North Caroli

The city commission of Fargo, North Dakota is currently considering a proposal that would dump the choose-one voting method used in a majority of cities and states across the U.S. and adopt approval voting for city elections. Fargo has an opportunity to make history as the first jurisdiction in the nation to use approval voting. Here is a quick explanation of how approval voting works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db6Syys2fmE Video Credit: The Center for Election Science "People are seein

In round one yesterday of March Madness, the premier spectacle of American sports, 32 teams went to the free throw line 634 times and converted 438 of their charitable gifts (you are not reading this anywhere else). Sixty-nine percent ain't that good; but it ain't the bad, either. But you are reading this because winning teams from the free throw line outshot their opponents in 12 of yesterday's 16 games. In several games the difference was critical to the game's denouement. In the Princeton

Disputed land rights. Corporate enterprise at stake. The presence of quasi-military units. Native communities on the defense. Violent conflict just one misfire away. It’s a scene Native Americans have grown accustomed to through centuries of marginalization at the hands of the United States. President Donald Trump’s support of the Energy Transfer Partners’ (ETP) Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe in North Dakota is the modern manifestation of a centuries-old conflict. Fortunately for Trump,

“Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.” - MLK It seems like every time we hear a protest going on, the internet is abuzz with trolls shouting “Quit wasting your time… Just stop it. Get a job… This will accomplish nothing.” The theme is that protests don’t really accomplish anything, are really fronted by billionaires, and are populated by hippies who contribute nothing to society and can’t deal with the truth. Just

For those who have paid close attention to President Barack Obama’s national energy policy, Sunday’s decision to deny the already approved permits to finish construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline came as little surprise. Last year, President Obama issued an executive order that killed the Keystone XL pipeline, despite the fact his own State Department issued a report stating the pipeline would have no impact on carbon emissions and would not harm the environment. Of the numerous political

April 1995 put radicalized right-wing terrorism firmly in the minds of Americans and law enforcement, when Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. At the time, this was the single largest act of terrorism ever committed on American soil. Then, in August 1998, two separate strikes against American embassies foretold what would be the new norm in global terrorism -- the rise of radicalized Islamic terrorism in the form of al Qaeda. Three years lat