From closed primaries and gerrymandered districts to ballot-access barriers and debate rules, the two-party system limits voter choice long before Election Day.
The people currently getting any credit for wanting to fix it are not the people with the power to do so, and the people who do have that power were never in Washington to begin with.
A bipartisan House caucus wants to stop politicians from redrawing congressional maps whenever the next partisan power grab comes along. The question is whether Congress is ready to regulate itself.
John Oliver’s redistricting warning is blunt: escalating partisan map wars may win seats now, but it destroys the basic idea that voters choose their representatives.
A bipartisan group of House members says it wants to stop politicians from choosing their voters — but the real test is whether Congress can act before the map-rigging arms escalates again.
Independents showing up in record numbers—as they did in the 2024 presidential election—would allow the bloc to potentially shift a number of seats against the gerrymander.
The national story is about which party gains seats. However, this obscures the local impact. Even if temporary, many voters in California will not have the same voting power they had in previous election cycles.
On Tuesday, Virginians will go to the polls and vote on a referendum that if passed will implement a temporary new congressional map that gives Democrats as much as a 10-1 advantage in House elections.
On March 28, the ranked choice voting advocacy group, Rank MI Vote was kicked out of the Michigan Republican Party Convention. Reports say one Republican state lawmaker called volunteers “communists” and even threatened physical violence.
In his 2026 State of the State address, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced that he plans to call a special state legislative session in the Spring to put an end to partisan gerrymandering “once and for all.” And he will keep calling lawmakers into session until happens.
IVN Editorial Board
Cara Brown McCormick
Shawn Griffiths
Matt Shinners
Steve Peace
