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California is now the largest state to permanently adopt universal mail-in ballot distribution. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the measure into law Monday. While it goes a long way to increase voter participation in the Golden State, public officials are still not doing everything they can to give all voters a level playing field in elections. California, like many of the other states that expanded access to mail-in ballots as an emergency change in 2020, saw record turnout in November. The state

On September 1, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, refused to prevent new, draconian Texas abortion legislation from taking effect. The Court’s tentative acceptance of that law, which among other provisions, only allowed a woman to seek an abortion before she likely knew she was pregnant, provoked outrage not only among pro-choice advocates, but also from many legal scholars deeply disturbed by the majority’s seeming abandonment of accepted jurisprudence. The proper course with

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in The Fulcrum and has been republished with permission from the publisher. ‍ While much of the country's election reform legislation has been rife with partisanship, Vermont is bucking that trend. Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed into law on Monday a measure that will automatically send Vermont's 495,000 registered voters a mail-in ballot ahead of statewide general elections. The General Assembly approved the legislation on a bipartisan basis

United States Postal Service Governor Amber McReynolds joins T. J. O’Hara to discuss the challenges of the Postal Service, its role in facilitating in-home voting, and the 2020 election in general. As a former Director of Elections for the City and County of Denver, Colorado, and the CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, Ms. McReynolds is one of our Nation’s leading experts on election policy and administration. She now turns her sights on restoring the USPS to its former level of excellen

Want to better understand how gerrymandering works while also competing for prizes? There is a competition going on until June 15 that calls on the American public to put their mapmaking skills to the test. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project launched the Great American Map Off on May 15. The group challenges any member of the public to draw congressional districts for 7 crucial states -- Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin -- as the redistricting proces

If you’re a young voter like us, you’re probably tired of politics as they are now. Tired of every aspect of your life being a political issue. Tired of the restrictive grip of the two major parties making you jump through hoops to vote in critical primary elections or barring you from them entirely. It’s no secret that the major parties have been taking advantage of the way we engage with politics to guilt and scare us into their camp. But what you may not know is that 40% of Americans refuse t

US voters and reform practitioners had an opportunity over the weekend to wrap up 2020 celebrating the success of historic proposals for better elections and discuss future endeavors to give the American people a fairer, more empowering, and more accountable political process. Leaders in the nonpartisan reform space gathered together Friday and Saturday for the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers’ virtual conference, “Winning Reforms: Wrap Up & Gear Up for 2021.” The event featured p

Inocente Izucar is having a Zoom-era moment. On Dec. 9, 2020, she’ll participate in a rare, free screening of an Oscar-winning documentary. The virtual event will re-introduce viewers to the childhood of a wispy, face-painting, homeless artist with an old soul and a trove of talent. Does her name sound familiar? Inocente’s first big spotlight moment came in 2013. Actor Jamie Fox clapped as co-presenter Kerry Washington announced the Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Short was…“Inocente

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ Next year's redistricting landscape is, at best, a mixed bag for good-governance advocates. Although the mapmaking process has become fairer and less politicized in a handful of states over the past decade, partisan gerrymandering will still have a profound impact on representation across most of the country. Democrats had high hopes of taking back enough power

David Lewis was just a few credits shy of earning his associate’s degree in journalism from Long Beach City College when the pandemic hit. Lewis, 29, was already encountering scheduling conflicts between his classes and a new job at Trader Joe’s. As the assignments for his online classes started to pile up, he struggled to keep pace. In March, he left school. It was a difficult choice because he’d returned to college just months before, determined to fulfill a promise he’d made to his mother b