The polarization we see in our politics is not a mystery. It is the predictable output of a system designed to produce it. Nothing meaningful can change until we fix the structure that keeps producing these outcomes.
Many Americans may not realize that during peacetime, the U.S. Coast Guard operates as part of the Department of Homeland Security and is funded by it, not the Department of Defense.
For 15 years, we have published more than 14,000 articles written by people from different walks of life, different parts of the country, and different political backgrounds.
Illinois conducted its 2026 primary elections Tuesday, and in some cases the winner advanced to November with around or less than 30% of the vote. In my congressional district, IL-7, State Representative La Shawn Ford won his primary with roughly 24% of the vote.
When threat levels are at their highest due to the situation in Iran, President Trump ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at 1:40 p.m. March 5 in a Truth Social post and named Republican U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma as her replacement.
At first glance, this feels like common sense. Voters walk into low-turnout municipal races and crowded primaries with almost no information. Beyond a party label – which is often meaningless in local governance – they are handed a list of names and told to decide.
The answer to today’s crowded field is not retreat. It is modernization. Instead of empowering party gatekeepers, we can empower voters with more choice, less vote splitting, and majority-supported outcomes.
Voter ID is treated like a five-alarm fire in American politics. That reaction says more about our dysfunctional political system than it does about voter ID itself.
A recent Independent Voter News article addressed alarms that the SAVE Act could become a vehicle for banning ranked choice voting nationwide, driven by President Donald Trump’s hostility toward mail voting and RCV and by Republican efforts to attach anti-RCV language to federal legislation.
Steve Peace
Susan DiVito
Cara Brown McCormick
IVN Editorial Board
Shawn Griffiths
John E Palmer
Chad Peace