<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
The exploratory committee for Kansas independent Greg Orman announced Wednesday that he raised over $450,000 ($452,931 to be exact) in 26 days -- exclusively from individual contributors. Orman announced the creation of an exploratory committee for a possible run for governor in early December. With his established name
News broke Tuesday that a panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina's congressional map, ruling that it constituted an illegal gerrymander. But unlike gerrymandering rulings in the past, the decision had nothing to do with racial or class discrimination, but partisan discrimination. It is the first time
Independent candidate Nick Thomas is optimistic about his chances in Colorado's 2nd Congressional District, and the timing of his candidacy may be just right. The 2nd Congressional District is considered by most politicos to be the most left-leaning district in Colorado. It was heavily gerrymandered to be a
Tired of being asked to sign on the dotted line at your local grocery store for a special interest project? Well, brace yourself, because voters in the city and county of San Diego are about to be inundated in January and February with more signature requests. Here are some of
Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul is no stranger to election reform. He has championed a number of legislative efforts to improve elections in the past, and has introduced a new package of election reforms for the upcoming legislative session. Rasoul has served in the Virginia House of Delegates since January 2014,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3NQ04a2Yy8 The White House announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump signed an executive order that dissolves his Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. President Trump issued the following statement: "Despite substantial evidence of voter fraud, many states have refused to provide the Presidential
Maine legislators first delayed and set a popular ballot initiative -- ranked choice voting -- up for repeal because they didn't like what voters wanted. Now, new measures from the secretary of state threaten the citizens' initiative process itself. The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee (VLA) will
Say what you want about 2017, it wasn't the slow and boring year in politics many politicos would have otherwise expected from an odd year -- a year that falls between presidential and midterm elections. For independents and the reform community, there were significant events that happened in
Gallup released its annual poll of most admired men and women of the year. Most of the headlines point to the results as another year both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were named the most admired man and woman among Americans. The results are interesting considering 2017 was also the
For many, 2017 was another tumultuous year in US politics, defined once more by the hyper-partisan divide on Capitol Hill and rhetoric in the media. As a result of the continued toxic political environment, millions of Americans are not only dissatisfied with the two-party duopoly, but want more choices in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4pfwTHb7lY Rand Paul may be back on the filibuster. This time, over reauthorization of FISA. He said Thursday that he will "absolutely filibuster" a long-term extension of the surveillance law. Congress has until the end of Friday to pass a spending bill
IVN published an article recently about how partisanship has reached such an extreme in American society that it is dividing families, friends, and becoming a deal breaker for potential marriage partners. So we set out to prove that despite the perception that people are only ugly to each other online