Search query: maryland

Convoluted CA Presidential Primary Rules Add to Vote Count Nightmare
Convoluted CA Presidential Primary Rules Add to Vote Count Nightmare
It didn’t take long for the presidential landscape to radically shift following a monumental Super Tuesday. Yet, despite the departure of the richest person to run for president in modern US history and the senior senator from Massachusetts, the true repercussions of Super Tuesday have yet to be fully realized. The reason? California has millions -- yes, millions -- of votes that have yet to be counted. AP quickly called California for Bernie Sanders on March 3 -- a big delegate prize for Sa
09 Mar, 2020
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9 min read
Supreme Court Reaffirms It Will Not Protect Voters from Partisan Gerrymandering
Supreme Court Reaffirms It Will Not Protect Voters from Partisan Gerrymandering
With all the news on impeachment updates, a news story that flew under the radar this week was the latest decision by the Supreme Court to punt on a gerrymandering case out of Ohio. Reuters reports: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a challenge to Republican-drawn congressional districts in Ohio that Democrats said were drawn to unlawfully diminish their political clout, a move that follows a major ruling by the justices in June that foreclosed such lawsuits. The court’s action in t
08 Oct, 2019
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2 min read
Supreme Court Reaffirms It Will Not Protect Voters from Partisan Gerrymandering
Supreme Court Reaffirms It Will Not Protect Voters from Partisan Gerrymandering
With all the news on impeachment updates, a news story that flew under the radar this week was the latest decision by the Supreme Court to punt on a gerrymandering case out of Ohio.
08 Oct, 2019
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2 min read
The Second American Revolution: 5-Minute Boot Camp For Unrigging Our Government
The Second American Revolution: 5-Minute Boot Camp For Unrigging Our Government
I’ve got some good news and some bad news. And once we put it all together, it’ll be news you can use — an easy way to join the Second American Revolution, now in progress. First, the bad news: You are being violated by your own government. Hustled and conned. We all are. Our voices and our votes. Our tax dollars, too. On a piece of parchment that birthed this country, our founders emphasized that lawmakers would derive “their just Powers from the consent of the governed.” That’s us. But those
26 Mar, 2019
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19 min read
10 Nonpartisan Organizations to Watch in 2020
10 Nonpartisan Organizations to Watch in 2020
There are hundreds, literally hundreds of organizations and individual campaigns working right now to fix the myriad of problems that face our political and electoral processes -- from the local to the national levels. The organizations tackle voter rights, primary election reform, ballot access, gerrymandering reform, campaign finance reform, alternative voting methods, electing candidates outside the two major parties, and more. The following are 10 of the biggest organizations working to ref
15 Mar, 2019
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21 min read
Eyes on 2020: Independents to Call on Candidates to Demand Open Presidential Primaries
Eyes on 2020: Independents to Call on Candidates to Demand Open Presidential Primaries
Last week, I joined a conference call with a dozen independent voter activists from around the country – all cabinet members of the “Eyes on 2020” campaign sponsored by Independent Voting, who are making a simple demand: Independents want full access to every stage of the 2020 presidential election process in every state. A recap of activities over the last several weeks was varied and impressive, touching on the many different ways independents are working on what is a civil rights campaign fo
06 Mar, 2019
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4 min read
OPINION: Boycott Iowa and Its Fraudulent Caucus
OPINION: Boycott Iowa and Its Fraudulent Caucus
The lead story in Wednesday’s Washington Post, was written by two reporters telling us what might happen to Democratic candidates running for president, in a race that doesn’t end until November 3, 2020 — a mere 615 days away. You might say I’m a political junkie, but I’m not reading speculative junk by two reporters about a subject I may know more about than they — if being in and around politics for 53 years counts for anything. As I’ve written, let the Democratic candidates run, and let med
25 Feb, 2019
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4 min read
2019 Sees Tremendous Surge in Ranked Choice Legislation Nationwide
2019 Sees Tremendous Surge in Ranked Choice Legislation Nationwide
As the new year begins, state legislatures around the country are convening to tackle the issues of the day. After seeing pro-democracy measures surge on the ballot in the 2018 midterms, it’s no surprise that efforts to address our broken elections continue to dominate discussion among the public and in the halls of power. Coming off of its historic first statewide implementation in Maine, ranked choice voting (RCV) has been a key part of this conversation in state legislatures from Massachuset
07 Feb, 2019
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2 min read
Organizations, Lawmakers Push for Open Primaries as Crowded 2020 Field Emerges
Organizations, Lawmakers Push for Open Primaries as Crowded 2020 Field Emerges
The 2020 presidential field is already taking shape. Nine Democrats have announced their campaigns since December, many of whose announcements went under the radar because the lack of media coverage: * Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana * Julian Castro, former Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, and former HUD Secretary * John Delaney, former Maryland congressman and businessman * Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii congresswoman * Kirsten Gillibrand, US Senator (NY) * Kamala Harris, US Senator (Cal
25 Jan, 2019
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5 min read
Is SCOTUS About to Finally Give Voters a Win on Gerrymandering?
Is SCOTUS About to Finally Give Voters a Win on Gerrymandering?
All rise. The fearsome gerrymander is back before the Supreme Court of the United States. In the days since SCOTUS announced its decision to review partisan district-drawing cases in both Maryland and North Carolina, the already hot topic of gerrymandering grew even more fiery, with both sides anxious to see what the nation’s highest court does - or doesn’t do -  to intervene. Last year, the court punted on a prior version of the same Maryland case it will revisit this term; it similarly decli
11 Jan, 2019
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2 min read