Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Open Primaries report on Maine offers path for future campaigns

Maine passes semi open primary bill

Griffiths is the national editor of Independent Voter News, where a version of this story first appeared.

Maine has long been at the forefront of political innovation, from the way its ballots are designed, to its clean election funds program, to same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting, to implementing ranked-choice voting. The state made further changes when it adopted semi-open primaries 2021.

Open Primaries, which partnered with Open Primaries Maine to move the needle on primary reform in the state, released a new report on the multi-year process that culminated in the preliminary votes approving legislation to change the primary system. The report also offers political reform advocates ideas that can be used across different reform efforts.


Approximately one-third of voters have been barred from the primaries each election cycle, but under the proposed legislation independent voters can select the party primary in which they choose to participate.

The campaign to build cross-partisan support for open primaries focused its message on fairness and inclusion, not electing moderates. The goal was to bring voters together around the idea that all citizens, regardless of party, should be treated fairly in elections.

And the messaging worked. Open Primaries and Open Primaries Maine garnered the support they needed among voters and in the legislature to push the bill through after five years of effort an compromise.

Check out Open Primaries' full report here.

Read More

​Reconsidering Agricultural Water Rights in the American Southwest

Freshly plowed farmland with rolling green hills on a clear day near Marsh Creek Road, Brentwood, California, June 10, 2025.

(Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

​Reconsidering Agricultural Water Rights in the American Southwest

As the American West continues to experience a decades-long megadrought, an increasing focus has been placed on reducing water consumption, with the agricultural industry being the largest consumer.

Context

Keep ReadingShow less
The Violence We Refuse to See

Students demonstrate for stricter gun control legislation as part of a March for Our Lives rally at the Iowa state capitol building on January 08, 2024 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Getty Images, Scott Olson

The Violence We Refuse to See

The news ticker denotes yet another shooting and fire, this time at a Latter-day Saint church in Michigan. This tragic incident occurred only weeks after the massacre at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, a tragedy whose shock had barely begun to fade from public memory. Each headline was a fresh rupture in our collective psyche, each one a new entry in the ever-lengthening register of loss. I felt the same fatigue—the hollow, tightening ache of resignation. How many times can we say “not again” before the words' meaning dissipates?

America has a peculiar way of justifying sin and bearing her scars. Our country’s response to violence is not just inadequate; it is complicit. We have constructed a body politic that tolerates, even sanctifies, these acts through legislative inertia and a distorted interpretation of constitutional rights. The sacred text of our republic has become a shield for the status quo, with lawmakers and justices hiding behind its language to justify inaction. Leaders at every level offer only platitudes, as if thoughts and prayers could bind wounds that legislation refuses to heal.

Keep ReadingShow less
Fear of AI Makes for Bad Policy
Getty Images

Fear of AI Makes for Bad Policy

Fear is the worst possible response to AI. Actions taken out of fear are rarely a good thing, especially when it comes to emerging technology. Empirically-driven scrutiny, on the other hand, is a savvy and necessary reaction to technologies like AI that introduce great benefits and harms. The difference is allowing emotions to drive policy rather than ongoing and rigorous evaluation.

A few reminders of tech policy gone wrong, due, at least in part, to fear, helps make this point clear. Fear is what has led the US to become a laggard in nuclear energy, while many of our allies and adversaries enjoy cheaper, more reliable energy. Fear is what explains opposition to autonomous vehicles in some communities, while human drivers are responsible for 120 deaths per day, as of 2022. Fear is what sustains delays in making drones more broadly available, even though many other countries are tackling issues like rural access to key medicine via drones.

Keep ReadingShow less