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Unaffiliated voters and candidates alike have historically been overlooked by Illinois' election code. But this year, elections in Illinois may get a makeover. Legislators have introduced several bills in January, all aimed at reforming the Prairie State’s exclusionary elections. Rep. Scott Drury: HB 0330 HB 0330, sponsored by Rep. Scott Drury (D-Highwood), eliminates the requirement that voters declare a party in order to participate in primary elections. Under Rep. Drury’s bill, a voter is

As a young guy it didn’t take me long to figure out how smart Lucy Killea was. She was an extraordinary intellect and a great politician. She was clever and capable of not getting stuck in the ruts that politicians of our generation have unfortunately gotten trapped in. Lucy would often remind me that "knowing WHEN to be right is often as important as simply being right." The words below are more than 25 years old. I was proud to stand by her in 1991, but I can't imagine any time when her words

A dos semanas de que Donald Trump inicie su mandato, el día de hoy, la Corte Federal de Distrito en Washington, D.C. escuchó argumentos orales en la demanda introducida por Level the Playing Field (LPF), la cual cuestiona el estatus de organización sin fines de lucro de la Comisión de Debates Presidenciales. El equipo legal de Level the Playing Field, incluyendo la abogada principal Alexandra Shapiro (extrema izquierda), Cara McCormick, Directora Ejecutiva de LPF (centro), Peter Acherman, CEO d

This week, Forbes shocked readers with the observation that legal marijuana sales in the United States for 2016 were larger -- and growing at a faster pace -- than the dot-com boom of the early 2000s. The news is based on findings by Arcview Market Research, the leading industry data researcher for the burgeoning regulated marijuana market in the United States. According to Arcview in a recent report, legal marijuana sales in the U.S. and Canada grew by a meteoric 30% in 2016 to $6.7 billion.

Kim Guadagno, who is New Jersey's lieutenant governor and secretary of state, is expected to run for governor in the GOP's June primary election against Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli. Guadagno is currently considered the odds-on favorite to win a primary election that is not likely to turn out many voters. Guadagno has served in her post since 2010, during which time she defended New Jersey's primary election law that gives the Republican and Democratic parties a monopoly over the state's electi

The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. heard oral arguments today in the lawsuit filed by Level the Playing Field (LPF) challenging the nonprofit status of the Commission on Presidential Debates, just under two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office. Level the Playing Field's legal team, including lead attorney Alexandra Shapiro (far left), LPF Executive Director Cara McCormick (middle), LPF CEO Peter Ackerman (middle), and attorney Chetan Patil (far right). L

It’s been said before, what a year! We’ve followed the presidential election, electoral reform, and everything in between. Below, we've compiled the top articles on IVN from this past year - found using Facebook engagement and article pageviews. Check out the headlines and highlights of each article. DNC Chair: Superdelegates Exist to Protect Party Leaders from Grassroots Competition Published February 12th by Truth in Media Democratic National Committee chair and Florida Congresswoman Debb

I know what you are thinking. How could the democratic process have possibly won in 2016? If anything, the 2016 elections showed just how much control two private political corporations -- the Republican and Democratic Parties -- have over elections. And you are right. It did. However, 2016 proved something else: Voters, fed up with the status quo, can make a difference. When it comes to elections in the U.S., the two major parties are practically omnipotent. From deciding which voters can par

California’s top-two nonpartisan primary, authored in 2009 by the Independent Voter Project (IVP) and approved by California voters as Proposition 14 the following year, has become the proverbial “Political Writers Full-Employment Act,” and will continue to be for some time. We have now completed three cycles since it first took effect in 2012, and as with most good things political, there is virtually no consensus, even among so-called “objective writers” as to its impact on California electio

Keep up with the reform efforts building on the post-election momentum. Big change starts small, and these organizations have been hard at work to fix our broken system, little by little. With so much negativity in the media, it is nice to catch up on some of the encouraging efforts of hardworking Americans, fighting for reform. The following summaries have been provided by the organizations themselves: Open Primaries Open Primaries launched a new petition asking the incoming chairs of the R