Search query: new york

FLORIDA - In March 2017, I was asked to assume leadership of the grassroots organization Florida Fair and Open Primaries (FFAOP). The organization was created by Duane Pike, of Tampa, FL in 2012 under another name, but the mission was always to advocate for Florida’s adoption of a top-two open primary. At that time, a couple of events intersected that provided a prime opportunity to build on what Duane had created. I was introduced to John Opdycke, president of Open Primaries, at Independent Vo

I was on a roll. As the Green Party congressional candidate for District 21 in upstate New York (NY-21), I participated in five congressional candidate debates or forums between April and June 2018. The forums originally focused on the June primary with seven then six then five people competing to be the Democratic candidate in the November election. I was already on the Green Party line on the November ballot, yet organizers of the five forums invited me so audiences could hear more points of v

Nearing the two year mark since the shocking 2016 presidential election result devastated both the Democratic and Republican Party power structures, liberal mainstream media journalists are still stuck in the denial stage of the Kübler-Ross model of grief. They were so certain Hillary Clinton would win, the election result they expected was so cemented into their minds as an immutable reality before the election had even taken place, that they could not let go of the perfect world they had crea

Maine became the first state in the nation to use ranked choice voting in statewide elections in June. The historic moment has boosted interest in alternative voting methods that offer better election results and an improved system for choosing elected officials. ALSO READ: Independents Made the Difference in Maine’s Ranked Choice Voting In response to IVN's coverage of Maine ranked choice voting (as well as the growing interest in the reform), a number of other voting methods have been sugges

We are having a big argument within the country -- about culture and norms. But mostly about power. I’m intimately familiar with power struggles, changing cultures and norms. I grew up between two worlds and two families. My weekday family with my step-father was a “his way or else” culture -- he had the power. My weekend family had boundaries to provide structure, and supported creativity--we played Monopoly by different rules so no one would lose. I had two families, two sets of norms and two

The following blog is based on a new FairVote report on ranked choice voting elections in 2018In the first half of 2018, nearly half a million voters ranked their choices in elections for the most important offices in their communities. Voters in Santa Fe, New Mexico elected their first full-time mayor, voters in San Francisco elected their mayor in a hotly-contested special, and voters in Maine ranked their choices in state and congressional primary elections – and then convincingly upheld rank

I was following the story of the boys, the Thai soccer team and their coach, who were trapped in Tham Luang Cave in Thailand.  When I passed a newsstand on Monday night and saw that four were rescued, I choked up for a second. There were still eight more and the coach to go. Scores of divers traveled to the cave from around the world to help with the effort and a Thai Navy Seal died trying to chart an escape route through the floodwaters that filled the mile and a half of treacherous cave pathwa

On June 18, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the “gerrymander” case. In Gill v. Whitford, 2018 U.S. LEXIS 3692, 138 S. Ct. 1916, 2018 WL 3013807, Democratic Party members claimed that their rights were violated because there was a gap between the percentage of votes the Party secured in statewide elections and the number of legislators it was able to elect. The disparity was attributed to the work of partisans who drew district lines custom made to maintain Republican control of the legislature.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh now proceeds to his confirmation hearing as President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court and the possible replacement for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Advocacy groups were a step ahead of the mainstream media in their prepared and pre-titled digital political ads. Biased, partisan bios were conjured for each judge on the short list of possible nominees as well as the narrative warnings. Ad cash and domain names were secured well in advance of an announcement. N

A thrilling victory by a young insurgent candidate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, against a 20-year incumbent and party boss, US Rep. Joseph Crowley, in the June 26 New York primary seems to be reverberating over state and national politics. Pundits are posing the question of whether a national anti-establishment wave within Democratic Party politics is in the making. Many activists -- myself among them -- hope so, but don't shout too soon. Remember how in 2004 a young upstart, newly-elected senat