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Despite an 11-point advantage in the polls ahead of Election Day, the "Yes on 2" campaign to bring ranked choice voting to Massachusetts fell short Tuesday. By the end of election night, 55% of voters turned down the proposal to change how voters cast the ballots in the Commonwealth. Ranked choice voting would have allowed state voters to rank political candidates in order of preference rather than choosing only one. “We came up short in this election, and we are obviously deeply disappointed

Native San Diegan Shakema Martin says she may still be employed today if she weren’t Black. Martin, a Mira Mesa native, was working at a Carlsbad company until August when she caught COVID-19. She quarantined until she felt better and returned to work with a doctor’s note, clearing her of the highly contagious virus. “They let me start work right away but told me I needed my doctor to fill out other paperwork,” she said. Martin found it difficult to complete her extra work during her Monda

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ It's often hard to see, but much more is at stake Tuesday than the presidency and control of Congress. Voters get to shape public policy by approving or rejecting more than 100 statewide ballot measures and dozens more local proposals — and this exercise in direct democracy includes plenty of ideas for bettering American democracy itself. More than a score of m

On October 21, US billionaire businessman Mark Cuban tweeted that the duopoly he would shut down “in a nanosecond” if he could was the Republican and Democratic Parties, asserting that their anti-competitive collusion was detrimental to the American people every single day: ‍ Cuban understands what activists and leaders in the nonpartisan reform space have known for a long time. The rules at every level of our political infrastructure were written to serve the interests of the Republican and De

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. All across the country, the consistent theme of this presidential year has been turmoil. A confusingly huge field of candidates vying to take on a norm-busting incumbent was just the start. The normally boring rules for conducting elections have been in high-profile upheaval since the coronavirus outbreak took hold in the spring, as most states grappled with how t

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ October is the last chance for most Americans to register if they want to vote for president this year. But 86 million eligible Americans, or one-third of the national total, can even sign up — and then proceed to cast a ballot — on Election Day. That's because they live in the 19 states (plus D.C.) that allow what's known as same-day registration. Eligible res

West San Ysidro Boulevard in San Diego has an extra pop of color. Creatives have added fresh street art along the high-traffic thoroughfare — less than four miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Vacant buildings, alleyways and businesses serve as canvases for a series of commissioned murals. One of the murals is the work of a self-taught cartoonist. The vibrant narrative reflects the artist’s comic strip background. It’s the first public mural created by Fifi Martinez. "It's on the abstract and o

This is Part Two of a two-part series on racism and the education system. Read Part One here. ‍ Data supporting the direct link between family income and student achievement rely mostly on test scores as the primary indicator of success. By that measure, the evidence is indisputable that schools in wealthy neighborhoods out-perform schools located in less affluent communities. In a class-based society, systemic racism in public education results in policies that serve to discriminate against t

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ Voting in the presidential election ends in 40 days, and states are still making adjustments to their rules and procedures. The coronavirus pandemic, along with a wave of litigation from voting rights groups and Democrats, has resulted in 34 states deciding to make it easier to cast a ballot this fall — either voluntarily or as the result of a lawsuit. Most of

This is Part One of a two-part series on racism and the education system. Part Two will be published on Monday, Sept. 28. The education system is “particularly effective at reproducing racial inequality” and is one of the best examples of structural racism in our society, said author Robin DiAngelo, in a recent talk presented by San Diego’s National Conflict Resolution Center. DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility,” was featured with Ibram X. Kendi, author of “How to be an Antiracist,” in the A