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Early voting has changed the game in modern politics, and that means snail mail is winning. On Friday, absentee voting kicked off in three states: Minnesota, Virginia, and South Dakota, and it signals the final phase of ‘midterms 2018.’  Sort of. It has slowed down the maneuvers of a campaign culture that has always prized speed and power, forcing it to now meet the wants of an electorate that has threatened a formerly predictable timeline by lengthening it. And if the recent past is any indic

As of August 2018, there were 423 third party and independent candidates who filed or declared congressional runs, compared to 1,185 Democrats and 1,034 Republicans. Of these 423 individuals, there are numerous women who are making congressional runs this 2018. Here are three notable independent female candidates to watch this upcoming November: Alyse Galvin As a result of an Alaska state court decision in late 2017, independent candidate Alyse Galvin was able to compete in the 2018 Democrati

What are the main take-aways from the 2018 primary season from an election reform perspective? In summary, some good news, some problems, and some emerging solutions. The good news is that competition and participation both increased significantly in 2018, as more people ran, more people voted, and more primaries actually offered choice to voters. The number of candidates seeking office jumped by 30% compared with 2016, and the percent of primaries that were contested also rose significantly, p

Soros Fund Management, the private investment management fund of George Soros, is generally very "left-leaning" and supportive of Democratic candidates, but sometimes the far-left financiers of the Soros Fund give to candidates who have an "(R)" next to their name. Earlier this week, I took a look at the Koch Brothers and examined some instances in which the partisan narrative doesn't exactly match up with reality– though they are often perceived as partisan Republicans, Koch Industries has giv

I recently experienced what was undoubtedly the most depressing experience of my journalistic career. I'm used to being stonewalled with half-answers by politicians, but I never expected to get the same treatment from fellow journalists. That's just what happened when I wrote a report on why Libertarian candidate for Iowa governor Jake Porter is being excluded from a debate hosted by KCCI television and the Des Moines Register. Bring on the Fudge Porter appears to be polling about 6%, and is

We are just over two years away from the election night 2020, and we are now around the time where campaign teams are beginning to form, and front-runners are beginning to emerge. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he will run for re-election in 2020 and, while he will undoubtedly face opposition from his own party due to his controversies, he is almost sure to be the Republican Party’s nominee for the next election. While Trump is disruptive, his voter base clearly wants him to remai

A central element of this remarkable year in election reform has been the pivot of the anti-gerrymandering fight from the courts to the ballot boxes. As has been widely reported, five states vote this year on state constitutional amendments to block partisan gerrymandering and fundamentally change how redistricting is done, far more than in any other year. Ohio approved its amendment in May with 75% support; four others -- Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, and Utah -- will vote in November. Nearly

In the latest Gallup poll taken from August 1-12, 2018, independents outnumbered members of either major party by at least 15 percentage points, but politicians continue to tailor their messages for the most extreme wings of a polarized two-party system. As of August, just three months before the contentious 2018 midterm elections, 28 percent of registered voters are Republicans, 27 percent of respondents say they are Democrats, and 43 percent identify themselves as political independents. The

Buried in the everyday actions of an active political campaign, I didn’t realize I was part of a trend until I looked again at Alexa Mikalowski’s article. She described women’s groups and their influential websites that ignore independent and third-party female candidates. She called out Rutger’s Center for Women and Politics as a so-called “non-partisan voice.”  Graciously, she included me on her list of credible women candidates getting ignored by women’s groups. Welcome to my world. As the G

Political reformers across America are paying close attention to key elections on November 6. But their focus is not on candidates or political parties. It’s about how Americans vote on ballot measures to unrig the system. Here are some highlights: Voters Not Politicians (Michigan) In Michigan, an anti-gerrymandering measure is on the ballot after Voters Not Politicians gathered more than 425,000 petition signatures with only volunteers within just 110 days. The measure creates an independen