<div><p>Shawn is the Election Reform Editor for IVN.us. He studied history and philosophy at the University of North Texas, and joined the IVN team in 2012. He has several years of experie
A Stanford political scientist is stating what IVN has reported for a long time now: Americans are not more polarized, despite what the media says. US voters are not being driven further to one corner or another in the ongoing political struggle between two private political corporations -- the Republican
A measure proposed by Republican State Rep. Drew Dennert to open all primaries in the state to independent voters died in the State House Monday. South Dakota currently has a semi-closed partisan primary system where the parties get to decide whether or not to allow independent voters to participate in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEb_vAzYlQ8 US Sen. Rand Paul objected to an attempt by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring a bipartisan spending bill to the floor of the Senate. He says that neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party cares about the debt. https:
The Equal Vote Coalition is proposing an innovative new voting system that its leaders say will not only revolutionize the way we conduct elections, but will provide the fixes we need for a clearly broken system. The voting system is called STAR (Score Then Automatic Runoff) Voting, which was originally
Will the government shut down again in 2018? IVN readers took our Facebook poll on this exact question and most said yes, they believe it will. Congress allowed the government to shutdown for a couple of days last week as Senate Democrats and many Republicans argued over the future of
Virginia Independent Voters Association Director Steve Richardson wrote an op-ed in The Virginian-Pilot Thursday in support of a new bill that would reform state primaries to a nonpartisan, top-two open primary similar to California and Washington state. "THANKS TO Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, the Virginia General Assembly has an
Kansas independent Greg Orman is officially running for governor in Kansas. His campaign made the announcement Wednesday with the release of a new ad that outlines his vision for the state. "We're at a time when our system is actually working against the interest of our citizens,
The Alabama legislature will consider a bill that would change the state's primary election process to a nonpartisan, top-two open primary similar to the systems in California and Washington state. The bill, introduced by Alabama State Rep. Mike Ball (R-Madison), would put all candidates -- regardless of party
The Republican-controlled Arizona legislature will consider a constitutional amendment that would close all statewide primary elections. HCR 2014, introduced by Republican State Representatives Brenda Barton, Drew John, Jay Lawrence, Becky Nutt, and Kevin Payne, reads: "For any political party is qualified for representation on the ballot, only persons who
Gallup released a report Wednesday that said the American people's overall negative perception of the government and our elected officials will only get worse if lawmakers and the president cannot prevent a government shutdown. Here are some quick stats: * 1 in 5 Americans approve of Congress' job
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTzo13G_rnk US Sens. Rand Paul, Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, and others are on the filibuster and are forcing the Senate to get 60 votes to limit debate on a FISA extension that Paul and Wyden promised they would filibuster last week after it
Living anywhere outside the northern parts of the country means one probably does not know what the bone-chilling, bitter cold of negative-degree temperatures and wind chill feel like. It bites. It blisters. It feels like nothing people outside these regions have ever experienced before. As I describe this, one might