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This story was originally published on The Conversation, and later re-published on The Fulcrum. Recent allegations regarding stock trading by members of Congress in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic have raised calls for the investigation of these politicians for illegal "insider trading." But successful prosecutions would be very difficult. Even federal judges struggle with writing clear instructions to jurors in insider trading cases. Often, verdicts are reversed on appeal due to errors i

Originally published on The Fulcrum. Due to the coronavirus, many states that have held their presidential primaries on schedule this year experienced a decrease in turnout, chaos and confusion. As we know, the integrity and inclusiveness of our elections depends on a well-run election system — which is exactly why Maricopa County saw an increase in turnout when Arizonans cast their ballots three weeks ago. On every Election Day, Americans eagerly tune into the news the moment the polls close,

Originally published on The Fulcrum. Advocates of open government are sounding the alarm that local, state and federal officials are too quickly sacrificing public access to the cause of public health during the coronavirus pandemic. "This is the worst time to be putting up obstacles to access," said Daniel Bevarly, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, a group of state and national organizations promoting access to the meetings and records of government. Bevar

Hello America! Hello my Brothers and Sisters! This campaign, this race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, has come to a critical point. A boiling point, some would say. And before we go any further, before voters in the next states cast their primary ballots and before the media casts its spin over the public, and before the kingmakers in the back rooms of the Democratic Party tell everyone that it’s over, I want to speak directly to the American people. Not just to Democrats. No

Illinois should host the first presidential primaries if the goal is to pick a state that most closely matches the demographics of the country. And Vermont, the home state of Democratic front-runner Bernie Sanders, should have minimal influence over the process because its makeup is least similar to the entire United States — meaning the results from that state would be hardly at all predictive of the nation's views. Those are among the conclusions out Thursday from the personal financial ser

It might surprise you to learn North Carolina (NC) has more unaffiliated (Independent) voters than Republicans. The percentage of NC voters registered as unaffiliated has been steadily increasing from 18% in 2004 to 32% in 2019. Yet despite this fact, there are currently zero unaffiliated representatives in our state legislature, zero unaffiliateds on any board of election (county or state), and only a handful of unaffiliated judges remaining in our judiciary. This reality is not caused by a la

Ballot harvesting is going to be an issue in California once again in 2020, but this time Republicans are joining in.

Michael Smolens, writing for the San Diego Union-Tribune, reports that Republicans are planning to copy the California Democratic Party's strategy of ballot harvesting in the 2020 presidential primary. Ballot harvesting is the process by which party or campaign volunteers / workers collect absentee and mail-in ballots from voters, and is categorized as a form of voter fraud by Ballotpedia. But here's the thing... it is perfectly legal in California, and now both parties are coming for voters' b

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

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.