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"Sometimes we in our discourse today ... use labels as a way to not engage with other people, to treat and divide us and them. And as a judge, I don't think that is a fair or appropriate or useful way to engage in discourse." - Hon. Neil M. Gorsuch Judge Neil Gorsuch is in the middle of his confirmation hearings to become the next associate justice of the Supreme Court. He will spend two total days being grilled by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearings process that will actual

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper vetoed HB 100 Thursday, March 16, a bill that would make elections for superior and district court judges partisan. Cooper also says the bill makes it harder for independent judicial candidates to get on the ballot. Candidates running in judicial elections currently are not listed on the ballot with their party affiliation. HB 100 treats the court bench like it is a partisan office akin to governor or a seat in the state legislature by having all candidates ru

Earlier today, California Assemblymember Todd Gloria announced a bill focused on reforming San Diego County’s elections. Currently, the County Board of Supervisor elections are held in a manner in which a candidate can win outright in the June primary if he or she receives greater than 50% of the vote. Assembly Bill 901 would change this format to one in which the top two vote-getters in the June primary would go on to the general election in November. This type of change is important because

At no time in history has the issue of “open v. closed primaries” been so prominent in the national discussion as it is today. This is, in large part, because Bernie Sanders made it a plank of his presidential campaign. But it is also a consequence of an important reality: independent voters are the fastest growing segment of the electorate, by far. Yet, the first and highly important stage of our election process most often serves the exclusive benefit of the voters who choose to join one of t

A bill was recently introduced in Oregon that would reform primary elections in a whole new way. Republican state Representative Knute Buehler, of District 54, is the sponsor of bill HB-3140, also known as the People’s Primary. The People's Primary opens the first stage of the public election process in a way no other state does. Put simply, HB-3140 reforms the current closed primary system by adding a ballot for independent voters. Voters registered with a party can vote in their party's prima

A new bill has worked its way into the Maine legislature. Presented and co-sponsored by Republican and Democratic state lawmakers, it seeks to “require candidates to be listed as unenrolled if not registered with a recognized party.” That’s right, it seems that for these legislators, “independent” is now too strong of a word for those who decide to run with no party affiliation. But it’s not only independents who would be affected by this law. The only recognized parties in the state of Maine

The FEC released a press release Wednesday that it will not appeal a federal judge's decision against current rules governing the Commission on Presidential Debates in Level the Playing Field v. FEC: "On February 1, the District Court ordered the Commission to reconsider Plaintiffs’ allegations and evidence, issue a new decision on the two administrative complaints and issue a new decision on the rulemaking petition. The Commission voted on February 22 not to appeal the District Court’s decisio

There is a new movement underway in New Jersey to elect independent-minded candidates to the state legislature that will support election reform to end partisan corruption in public elections. "The electoral process is very corrupt," said Dana Wefer, a life-long Democrat running for New Jersey governor as a Republican. Wefer is also the founder of New Jersey Awakens, which has proposed 5 reforms to break the parties' control over elections: * Initiative and Referendum: "New Jersey is one of t

California election reformers, including the Independent Voter Project (IVP), predicted there would be massive voter confusion during the 2016 presidential primary. And they were right. Last month, the California legislature introduced two bills that create the appearance of addressing these issues, but not in the comprehensive way proposed by IVP, along with a number of California legislators before the 2016 primary. As a consequence of convoluted primary rules, for example, hundreds of thou

Democracies are not the normal order of human civilizations. Throughout history, and even today, people are far more likely to live under monarchies, dictatorships, and authoritarian regimes than they are to be self-governed. Our democracy was inspired by an era of enlightenment that recognized the importance of individual freedom and human dignity. Maintaining it requires vigilance and direct participation when things have gone awry. Things have gone awry. The Republican Party, the strongest p