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“Americans vote for their president.” Well, yes and no. America’s presidential election system relies on the Electoral College, a group of men and women chosen by state parties to vote in their favor. When Americans go to the polls, they choose their candidate of choice, and trust that the party electors will vote as the citizens have chosen. Each state has a certain number of electors: California has the most, with 55; other states, like Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska, have as few as three. The

The two presumptive presidential nominees for the Republican and Democratic parties had a big night Tuesday. Running unopposed, Trump swept all 5 Republican contests to add more delegates to his total count, while Hillary Clinton won 4 of the 6 (CA, NJ, NM, and SD) Democratic contests. The big prize of the night, California, went to Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side. While some polls showed a close race between Clinton and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton garnered 55.9% of the vote to

On Tuesday, June 7, 6 states -- California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota -- will hold Democratic presidential contests in what has proven to be a hotly contested race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. In total, there are 694 pledged delegates up for grabs, a big jackpot for the candidate who can garner the most votes. However, on the eve of this major primary election day, the Associated Press (AP) announced that Clinton had the number of delegates n

California’s nonpartisan, top-two elections allow Democrats and Republicans alike to differentiate themselves within their party. In 2010, California voters passed Proposition 14, putting the top-two system into place for all California primaries (except the presidential primary). Top-two went into effect in 2012, allowing voters of any party affiliation to vote for any candidate in the primary races (except the presidential). The top two vote-getters move on to the general election. Advocates

2016’s campaign cycle, as “unconventional” as it may have turned out to be, clearly demonstrates one distinct fact—people are pissed off with the status quo! Why shouldn’t they be? The two national parties of Democrats and Republicans continue to make false promises and actually end up doing nothing. Furthermore, the country’s corporate-controlled national media is complicit in propping up the illusion that America’s partisan establishment will change with a new election. What a load of bull!

Let’s be clear here. Major-party primaries in the US are absurd. Parties in most countries select their nominees privately and pay for it on their own dime. That’s not surprising either considering that political parties are private organizations. In the US, however, parties do their primaries publicly. That may sound nice, but as private organizations, US parties get to make their own rules. These rules conveniently include who gets to vote and how those votes are counted. The benefits to ma

NBC Montana reported Thursday that the Montana Republican Party is dropping out of a lawsuit that aims to close the state's primary elections. The decision by the state GOP deals a significant blow to the lawsuit after three courts, including the Supreme Court, denied the plaintiffs' petition to close June's primary elections. NBC Montana reports: Matthew Monforton, an attorney for 10 GOP county central committees, says the county committees will continue as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.[...]The

Hillary Clinton recently touted her longstanding loyalty to the Democratic Party and the importance of being a "real" Democrat nominee. Bernie Sanders, previously the longest serving independent in Congress, declared as a Democrat because of our system's unfavorable treatment of independents and third party candidates. He even went so far as to call out the media, telling MSNBC's Chuck Todd that the network wouldn't have covered him had he remained an independent. Sanders' accurate perception o

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court denied the Montana Republican Party's request to close the 2016 primaries to registered members of the party. Montana has been an open primary state since 1912, meaning that voters do not have to be a registered member of a party to vote in statewide primary elections. In their appeal to the Supreme Court, attorneys for the Republican Party argued that the system hurts the party by allowing nonmembers to vote in "their" taxpayer-funded primaries, thus violating t

On Monday, the Supreme Court of the Unites States heard oral arguments in the case of Wittman v. Personhuballah, to decide whether Virginia lawmakers unlawfully considered race while redrawing congressional district lines in 2012. Most courtroom commentators believe that SCOTUS will be reluctant to overturn the lower court’s decision and reinstate a district map that was drawn by the Virginia legislature to favor Republicans and with the passing of Justice Scalia, a 4-4 tie would uphold the lowe