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From the ongoing legal battle against the Commission on Presidential Debates to taking nonpartisan election reform to the nation's largest battleground state, here are 5 key stories on election and political reform from this week. 1. Appeals Court Hears Johnson/Stein Debate Commission Lawsuit The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral argument in Gov. Gary Johnson and Dr. Jill Stein's antitrust lawsuit against the Commission on Presidential Debates. The court agreed to hear t

A recent Gallup poll listed ‘dissatisfaction with the government’ as the highest ranking problem facing Americans. They found that fewer than a third of Americans are happy with the direction the country is going. More concerning, partisanship is more strident than ever -- preventing any kind of pragmatic reform before it even starts. With that type of gridlock, it’s no surprise that nearly 40% of voters now self-identify as political independents. Now imagine if instead we had legislators tha

This week host T.J. O’Hara is joined by the Centrist Project’s executive director, Nick Troiano. The two discussed Nick’s 2014 run for Congress, the bipartisan policy campaign The Can Kicks Back, and the Centrist Project’s latest venture: #HackTheSenate. The campaign focuses on the fulcrum strategy to “hack” the senate, and works to create a network of supporters and potential candidates ready to run as independents. Nick Troiano earned a Master’s degree in American Government from Georgetown

State Representative Gabrielle LeDoux (R-Anchorage) is the latest legislator to introduce legislation that would open state elections to all voters. Rep. LeDoux’s HB200 would establish a top-two style nonpartisan open primary election system, similar to Washington and California’s models. Alaska’s current primary elections are semi-closed, meaning voters are allowed to participate only if a political party lets them. While the Democratic congressional and state primaries are open, allowing any

In 2014 and 2015, Level the Playing Field (LPF) filed two complaints against the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Simply put, LPF argued that (1) the CPD was not a nonpartisan organization, as its tax-deductible nonprofit status requires, and (2) the CPD's rule requiring candidates to get 15% in the polls in order to qualify for the presidential debates was unfair. The FEC dismissed both complaints without any real consideration. In January,

Historically, Nebraska has long set itself apart from the rest of the country in the way its legislature is elected and functions. One state senator believes it should also be unique in the way it treats third parties and third party candidates in statewide elections. Nebraska’s nonpartisan unicameral system is the only one of its kind in the United States. Nebraska elects state lawmakers using a nonpartisan, top-two system that does not include party affiliation on the ballot, and all legislat

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - While the term "fake news" is relatively new, the concept is not. Just ask former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWzqZaN7UAo&feature=youtu.be The Independent Voter Project and The City Club of San Diego hosted Breton Peace, author of Actual Malice, at a book signing and discussion on Saturday, April 1, at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. Faculty, students and community members at large attended. Watch more in the above video.

Meet the Author: Local Attorney Bret Peace Talks ‘Actual Malice’ A True Story of Fake News, Institutional Corruption, Gary Condit, and Chandra Levy On Saturday, April 1, the Independent Voter Project and The City Club of San Diego are hosting a discussion with Actual Malice author and local attorney, Bret Peace. Actual Malice was written by Peace with the assistance of Condit and his family and tells a story involving the type of compelling characters and bizarre plot twists usually found onl

Outside the fall presidential debates, there are a lot of people who don't know about the Commission on Presidential Debates, mostly because it keeps its internal matters quiet. For instance, few noticed that the CPD swapped co-chairs in January, with Michael D. McCurry being replaced by Dorothy S. Ridings. Even McCurry's Wikipedia page still says he co-chairs the debate commission. Screenshot taken on 3/26/17. As previously reported on IVN, McCurry is most known as President Bill Clinton's pre

No one in their right mind would challenge the importance of primary elections. So, if the first stage of the public election process in closed primary states, like Oregon, doesn't let independent voters participate at all, how can independent voters possibly have an equal right to vote? That’s the question being addressed by two Oregon legislators. In Oregon, 27.7% of registered voters have chosen not to join a party. But, because they have chosen not to join a party, they’re not allowed to