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Senator Ben Hueso represents District 40, a region that incorporates some of San Diego County and all of Imperial County. In January 2017, Hueso was reappointed to serve as Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications. The Wildfire Preparedness and Response Legislative Conference Committee passed legislation  SB-901 in August to further address the wildfire crisis and give the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) some direction forward. I sat down with Hueso

Update: 11/15/18, 1:00 pm ET: US Rep Bruce Poliquin announced on Twitter before the second round tabulation that he would continue his legal challenge against ranked choice voting even if he won. He is asking Judge Walker to rule on the constitutionality of ranked choice voting by December 14. Update 11/15/18, 12:30 pm ET: After the second round of votes were tabulated, Jared Golden over took US Rep. Bruce Poliquin's marginal lead and has been proclaimed the apparent winner with 50.53% of the v

We need to talk about Florida. The Sunshine State is holding three statewide recounts: for governor, U.S. senator, and state agricultural commissioner. (This does not count the three other recounts in state legislative races). To put this number in perspective, between 2000 and 2015, there were only 27 statewide recounts in all American elections, meaning Florida’s 2018 elections account for about 10 percent of all statewide recounts held in the 21st Century. Between the heavily polarized poli

This is my post-election column where I analyze the impact of independent voters who came out in force last Tuesday, almost 34 million of us. Huge. The stats and takeaways are at the end of this column, dear reader, so if you prefer to cut to that chase, scroll on down. Suffice it to say that independents are swinging between cycles of disruption and cycles of stabilization, all the while searching for systemic changes that will take us to new ground. Independent rather than partisan ground. Th

IVN Author Wes Messamore and I discuss breaking news out of Maine in the latest podcast episode of In Full Color. US Rep. Bruce Poliquin filed a lawsuit Tuesday to stop ranked choice voting tabulation as he finds his political career in jeopardy. FairVote Law and Policy Director Drew Spencer joins the conversation to talk about this lawsuit, which relies on arguments that have already failed in court and only comes now that the incumbent is facing likely defeat, according to exit polls. It see

AUGUSTA, MAINE - US Rep. Bruce Poliquin filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday to stop ranked choice voting in Maine's 2nd Congressional District. The suit, filed against Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, is seeking an injunction to stop vote tabulation in what would be the first US House race in history to be decided by ranked choice voting. Maine made history in 2018 as the first to use ranked choice voting for statewide, legislative, and US House and Senate primary elections. Due to a non

I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I am an independent who believes that at this moment of partisan dysfunction and division that the health of American democracy depends on the capacity of the American people to come together, to grow and to develop. While the media is saturating us with a focus on the results of who won and who lost in the midterm elections, my attention is drawn to signs of the emergence of a bottom up nonpartisan developmental politic in our country that breaks throu

FLORIDA - Election integrity advocates will take Florida to court over ballot image preservation as soon as possible — the latest in a myriad of conflicts contributing to post-election chaos in the Sunshine State. A group of plaintiffs is about to sue Secretary of State Ken Detzner (R) over his office’s failure to enforce legal requirement to preserve the digital image files of ballots cast. These records are crucial with the possibility of a recount in both the US Senate and governor’s races.

MAINE - Republican US Rep. Bruce Poliquin says that if ranked choice voting was not in place, his race would be over with him leading Democrat Jared Golden 46.2% to 45.5% — less than 2,000 votes separating the two candidates. It is true that Maine is the only state in the nation to use ranked choice voting in US House elections. There are, however, a dozen of cities that use it for local elections, including Portland, Maine. Maine made history in 2018 when it used the alternative voting method

IVN Author Wes Messamore and I delve into some of the biggest races that haven't been decided in the 2018 midterms, and the controversies arising that could drag these races out longer, President Donald Trump and members of the Republican Party are calling "FRAUD" in states like Arizona and Florida, where the Senate races are still too close to call: * In Florida, a manual recount is expected, along with the possibility of a lawsuit from Gov. Rick Scott and the National Republican Senate Commi