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Independent Voting

We are a national strategy, communications, and organizing center working to connect and empower the 40% of Americans who identify themselves as independents. Our mission is to develop a movement of independent voters, in partnership with Americans of all persuasions, to reform America's political process, create unorthodox coalitions and use our democracy to develop our nation.

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Events

Politics For The People Book Club

Organizers: Independent Voting and The People

The book club's fall selection is "The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy," by Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter. Gehl will be joining the Politics for the People discussion on Sunday, October 4 at 7 pm EDT. While you read, interact with others by checking out their reviews and chapter summaries today at politics4thepeople.com.

Location: Webinar

Voting
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Five Green Party candidates were removed from the ballot in Montana after certification issues.

Montana's Greens sue for the rights of minor parties to be on the ballot

UPDATE, Aug. 19: The state Supreme Court and a federal judge issued separate rulings Wednesday that will keep Green candidates off the ballot.

The Green Party is suing to keep itself on the ballot in Montana this fall, the latest testing of the limits of efforts to tamp down the small but persistent power of such minor political parties.

A state judge last week ordered five Green challengers removed from general election ballots on the grounds their candidacies had not been properly certified. The longshot lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court seeks to overturn the judge's decision, arguing it violates the voting rights of, and effectively disenfranchises, approximately 800 Montanans who cast Green Party ballots in the June 3 primary.

This dispute is another example of the barriers third-party candidates face because of the American political duopoly. Many in the world of democracy reform argue that a baseline way to make the system work better is opening elections wider to candidates who don't identify within the increasingly polarized Republicans and Democrats.

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Big Picture
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The last independent invited to participate in a presidential debate was Ross Perot -- 28 years ago.

Appeals court rejects bid to get more outsiders into presidential debates

A long, and long-shot, quest to get more candidates onto the presidential debate stage has run aground in a federal appeals court.

The Libertarian and Green parties, and the nonprofit advocacy group Level the Playing Field, have been challenging the debate qualifications for six years, arguing they unfairly if not unconstitutionally favored the nominees of the two major parties. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals flatly and unanimously rejected all those arguments last week.

Many groups who view the political system as broken place much of the blame on the Republican and Democratic duopoly, which they say will never be weakened unless candidates with other allegiances have a shot at victory. And a prerequisite for getting a serious look for president, they argue, is getting your personality and policies known to the sort of national TV audience only debates command.

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Politics For The People Book Club: "Unrigged" by David Daley

Organizers: Independent Voting and The People

As part of the ongoing collaboration between Independent Voting and The People, you are invited to join Politics for The People Book Club, an innovative online book club where we look at a wide variety of books from an independent, nonpartisan point of view.

  • The spring selection is "UNRIGGED: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy" by David Daley.
  • Author David Daley will be joining Politics for the People on Sunday, May 31st at 7 pm EST for a rich conversation about the book and the ongoing movement for reforms to put more power in the hands of ordinary Americans.
  • You can join the book club by visiting the blog and signing up to get regular updates.
  • Stay engaged through the blog while you read the book by engaging in lively conversations in the Readers' Forum, reading reviews on the book, and more!
Location: Webinar
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