Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Suits seek e-signing for anti-gerrymander ballot measures in N.D., Nevada

Digital signature
Andrew_Rybalko/Getty Images

Opponents of partisan gerrymandering have asked federal courts in two Western states to keep their referendum proposals alive by permitting electronic signatures on ballot petitions.

The lawsuits, brought Thursday in Nevada and North Dakota, join similar litigation in seven other states filed since the coronavirus pandemic made it effectively impossible to pursue grassroots citizen initiatives the traditional way — by canvassing door-to-door or outside retailers in search of handwritten signatures.

But only one of those, in Arkansas, is similarly in support of a top item on the democracy reform agenda: taking legislative redistricting away from politicians, who have an obvious interest in preserving their power, and turning it over to independent commissions.


The proposal in Nevada, which needs 98,000 supporters by June 24 to earn a place on the November ballot, is exclusively about forming a panel to reconfigure the state's four congressional districts and the lines for the solidly Democratic Legislature.

But the state requires its adoption in two elections, meaning such a panel would not be created in time to tackle the redistricting for this decade in response to population changes revealed in the current, Covid-19-delayed census.

The proposal in North Dakota, which needs 27,000 signatures by July 6, is much more expansive. In addition to a putting the new and nonpartisan state ethics commission (itself created by referendum in 2018) in charge of next year's remapping of the reliably Republican Legislature — the one at-large congressional district cannot be altered — the measure would revamp the state's elections two ways:

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

All candidates would appear on a single primary ballot, with the top four finishers (regardless of party) advancing to November. And then the winner would be chosen in a ranked-choice election, with voters listing candidates in order of preference and an automatic runoff weaning out the poorer performers until there was a single candidate on a majority of ballots.

The lawsuits argue that in-person signature requirements pose unconstitutional burdens on the free speech and equal protection rights of the voters, at least until the public health emergency is over.

North Dakota is among the few states that have never imposed formal stay-at-home restrictions, and those curbs are on course to get lifted in Nevada at the end of next week. Both suits ask for deadline extensions as well as the use of online or email signature gathering.

Virginia is for now the only state with a redistricting commission proposal on the November ballot. Approval, which seems likely, would mean at least some maps in 14 states are drawn for the coming decade by independent panels.

Two weeks ago Massachusetts became the only state so far that's reversed its policies in response to a lawsuit and allowed electronic signatures for initiatives. Along with independent commission advocates in Arkansas, proponents for ballot measures on an array of topics in Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, and Oklahoma have also sued in hopes of changing signature rules or getting deadlines extended. But grassroots groups in many more states have suspended their efforts in the face of the pandemic.

Read More

"Vote" pin.
Getty Images, William Whitehurst

Most Americans’ Votes Don’t Matter in Deciding Elections

New research from the Unite America Institute confirms a stark reality: Most ballots cast in American elections don’t matter in deciding the outcome. In 2024, just 14% of eligible voters cast a meaningful vote that actually influenced the outcome of a U.S. House race. For state house races, on average across all 50 states, just 13% cast meaningful votes.

“Too many Americans have no real say in their democracy,” said Unite America Executive Director Nick Troiano. “Every voter deserves a ballot that not only counts, but that truly matters. We should demand better than ‘elections in name only.’”

Keep ReadingShow less
Why America’s Elections Will Never Be the Same After Trump
text
Photo by Dan Dennis on Unsplash

Why America’s Elections Will Never Be the Same After Trump

Donald Trump wasted no time when he returned to the White House. Within hours, he signed over 200 executive orders, rapidly dismantling years of policy and consolidating control with the stroke of a pen. But the frenzy of reversals was only the surface. Beneath it lies a deeper, more troubling transformation: presidential elections have become all-or-nothing battles, where the victor rewrites the rules of government and the loser’s agenda is annihilated.

And it’s not just the orders. Trump’s second term has unleashed sweeping deportations, the purging of federal agencies, and a direct assault on the professional civil service. With the revival of Schedule F, regulatory rollbacks, and the targeting of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, the federal bureaucracy is being rigged to serve partisan ideology. Backing him is a GOP-led Congress, too cowardly—or too complicit—to assert its constitutional authority.

Keep ReadingShow less
One Lesson from the Elections: Looking At Universal Voting

A roll of "voted" stickers.

Pexels, Element5 Digital

One Lesson from the Elections: Looking At Universal Voting

The analysis and parsing of learned lessons from the 2024 elections will continue for a long time. What did the campaigns do right and wrong? What policies will emerge from the new arrangements of power? What do the parties need to do for the future?

An equally important question is what lessons are there for our democratic structures and processes. One positive lesson is that voting itself was almost universally smooth and effective; we should applaud the election officials who made that happen. But, many elements of the 2024 elections are deeply challenging, from the increasingly outsized role of billionaires in the process to the onslaught of misinformation and disinformation.

Keep ReadingShow less
MERGER: The Organization that Brought Ranked Choice Voting and Ended SuperPACs in Maine Joins California’s Nonpartisan Primary Pioneers

A check mark and hands.

Photo by Allison Saeng on Unsplash. Unsplash+ License obtained by the author.

MERGER: The Organization that Brought Ranked Choice Voting and Ended SuperPACs in Maine Joins California’s Nonpartisan Primary Pioneers

Originally published by Independent Voter News.

Today, I am proud to share an exciting milestone in my journey as an advocate for democracy and electoral reform.

Keep ReadingShow less