Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Arkansas anti-gerrymander group joins fight for relief from signature rules

Arkansas state Senate districts
Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services

Redistricting reformers in Arkansas are the latest to ask the courts to relax petition signature requirements in the time of coronavirus.

Arkansas Voters First filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking a federal judge to loosen the state's rules given the unprecedented circumstances.

While much of the focus at the intersection of democracy and the pandemic has centered on delayed primaries and altered rules for the November presidential contest, the plight of grassroots groups to register voters and get their measures on the ballot has also intensified.


A federal judge in Arizona this week dismissed a request from two ballot measure campaigns, which wanted permission to get signatures online instead of in person, while the top court in Massachusetts relaxed the timetables and signatures required from would-be candidates there.

But the number of court fights has so far been exceeded by those who have given up: At least 21 efforts to get proposals on the ballot in 11 states have been paused if not outright abandoned in the face of Covid-19, and legions of potential candidates across the country have put their aspirations on hold.

Arkansas Voters First wants the people to be allowed to decide this fall to turn over the drawing of both congressional and legislative maps to an independent commission starting next year, after the census provides the population details for each state. Thirteen other states have already done so at least for some maps.

The maps drawn by the Republican-majority Arkansas General Assembly a decade ago have produced an all-GOP congressional delegation and a state Capitol in Little Rock where just a quarter of the lawmakers are Democrats -- even though the party got 35 percent of the statewide vote two years ago. Only seven states have a more partisan gerrymandered set of maps, according to the University of Southern California's Schwarzenegger Institute.

Polling by Arkansas Voters First found 58 percent in favor of an independent commission.

"We don't have the luxury of waiting until next year," said the group's director, Bonnie Miller. "If we are denied access to the ballot this year, Arkansas could be stuck with unfair and unrepresentative districts for another 10 years."

State law requires 89,000 registered voters to sign a petition in the presence of a canvasser by July 3, and the group said it had only begun the process when the pandemic took hold. GOP Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is one of only eight governors who has never issued a stay-at-home order, however.

The anti-gerrymandering group wants the federal court to suspend the witness requirement, reduce the signature minimum, extend the deadline and permit the use of electronic signatures.

"Every voice should be heard in our democracy, and every vote should count equally," said Paul Smith of the Campaign Legal Center, which is representing the group. "Arkansans deserve the right to decide whether their voting district maps will be drawn by a neutral commission or politicians pursuing a partisan agenda."

Read More

Rear view diverse voters waiting for polling place to open
SDI Productions/Getty Images

Open Primaries Topic Creates a Major Tension for Independents

Open primaries create fine opportunities for citizens who are registered as independents or unaffiliated voters to vote for either Democrats or Republicans in primary elections, but they tacitly undermine the mission of those independents who are opposed to both major parties by luring them into establishment electoral politics. Indeed, independents who are tempted to support independent candidates or an independent political movement can be converted to advocates of our duopoly if their states have one form or another of Open Primaries.

Twenty U.S. states currently have Open Primaries for at least one political party at the presidential, congressional, and state levels, including Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. At least 15 states conduct "semi-closed" primaries, a middle position in which unaffiliated voters still have an option to choose to vote in one of the major party primaries. 

Keep ReadingShow less
Voter registration
The national voter registration form is now available in 20 non-English languages, including three Native American languages.
SDI Productions

With Ranked Choice Voting in NYC, Women Win

As New York prepares to choose its next city council and mayor in primaries this week, it’s worth remembering that the road to gender equality in the nation’s largest city has been long and slow.

Before 2021, New York’s 51-member council had always been majority male. Women hadn’t even gotten close to a majority. The best showing had been 18 seats, just a tick above 35 percent.

Keep ReadingShow less
Independent Voters Just Got Power in Nevada – if the Governor Lets It Happen

"On Las Vegas Boulevard" sign.

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash. Unplash+ license obtained by IVN Editor Shawn Griffiths.

Independent Voters Just Got Power in Nevada – if the Governor Lets It Happen

CARSON CITY, NEV. - A surprise last-minute bill to open primary elections to Nevada’s largest voting bloc, registered unaffiliated voters, moved quickly through the state legislature and was approved by a majority of lawmakers on the last day of the legislative session Monday.

The bill, AB597, allows voters not registered with a political party to pick between a Republican and Democratic primary ballot in future election cycles. It does not apply to the state’s presidential preference elections, which would remain closed to registered party members.

Keep ReadingShow less
Voter registration

In April 2025, the SAVE Act has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress and passed the House, with a much stronger chance of becoming law given the current political landscape.

SDI Productions

The SAVE Act: Addressing a Non-Existent Problem at the Cost of Voter Access?

In July 2024, I wrote about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act when it was first introduced in Congress. And Sarah and I discussed it in an episode of Beyond the Bill Number which you can still listen to. Now, in April 2025, the SAVE Act has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress and passed the House, with a much stronger chance of becoming law given the current political landscape. It's time to revisit this legislation and examine its implications for American voters.

Read the IssueVoter analysis of the bill here for further insight and commentary.

Keep ReadingShow less