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Democracy Madness: Top-seeded 'best of the rest' dominate the last Elite Eight

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The top seven seeds have all made it through to the Elite Eight round in the "Best of the Rest" division of Democracy Madness — our tournament where readers are deciding which of 64 ideas for fixing the government they want most.

The only minor upset in the opening round of our final quarter: The notion of conducting more extensive audits of election results, our ninth seed, barely snuck past the idea of creating federal standards for all voting machines, slotted eighth.

Now it's time to whittle it down to four. The voting lasts until Sunday night.


Will using nothing but paper ballots (No. 1) get by those post-election audits? Will providing a steady flow of federal funding for elections (No. 2) best a demand for Congress to spend more time in Washington (No. 7)? Does Congress need more capacity (No. 3) or should kids spend more time learning about civics (No. 6)? Want the District of Columbia to be the 51st state (No. 4) or a code of ethics for the Supreme Court (No. 5)?

These are the questions that await you in this round of the bracket. Which one will join the other three bracket champions who readers have already sent to the Democracy Madness Final Four?

Click "Vote Now" to make your four choices. (You can click the matchups, then each label, for more on the proposals.)



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After voting for the first time, the proud mother puts an "I voted" sticker on her daughter.

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The Surge of Independent Voters: Why Open Primaries Are Democratically Necessary

Across the United States, traditional political affiliations are shifting as a growing segment of the electorate steps away from major-party labels. Jeremy Gruber, senior vice president at Open Primaries, a national nonpartisan organization dedicated to expanding nonpartisan voter access, highlighted this dramatic evolution in voter registration and the structural hurdles these voters face in the latest episode of The Fulcrum Roundtable.

The decline in major-party allegiance is not temporary but a sustained movement that has been building over several decades.

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