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Kenan Thompson

Project 2025: Voters oppose the far-right playbook

Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention

The Democrats didn't have a meaningful primary, and no one cared

The Fulcrum Digest: Voting Access Proposals Are Sweeping the Nation

David Meyers
By David MeyersMay 06, 2019
David Meyers

David Meyers is the Executive Editor of The Fulcrum. Before launching The Fulcrum, David spent more than two decades at CQ Roll Call, a leading publisher of political news and information. During his time there, David served as managing editor of Roll Call (“the newspaper of Capitol Hill”) and as managing editor of member information and research, which included co-editing the definitive biographical directory of Congress, “Politics in America.” David went on to lead all of CQ Roll Call’s congressional research teams as vice president of research and content development before shifting to a revenue and strategy role as vice president of business operations for Roll Call, working with the advertising and editorial teams to develop new revenue models and expand the company’s events business. David lives in Fairfax, Va., with his wife, two daughters and rottweiler. A graduate of Tufts University, David is a past president of the Tufts University Alumni Association. He is also a past president of the Washington Press Club Foundation, which works to celebrate and advance the role of women and minorities in the media. David currently serves on the board of directors for Temple B’nai Shalom in Fairfax Station.

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There has been a surge in legislation to ease access to the polls during the early days of state legislative sessions across the country.

The New York University School of Law's Brennan Center counts at least 230 bills that have been filed or pre-filed at state capitals since the midterm election – with bipartisan efforts to place automatic voter registration, vote-by-mail, same-day registration or the restoration of voting rights for convicted felons on the legislative agendas in 31 states.

Hawaii Moves Toward Always Voting by Mail

Legislators in Hawaii this week began debating a range of election measures including a proposal to make the archipelago the fourth state in the nation that conducts all voting by mail.

Mail ballots are now an option and have outnumbered those cast at traditional polling places since 2014. A bill starting to move in the legislature would shift Hawaii to an exclusively mail-in system in 2022. Previous have been passed by the state Senate but ignored in the state House. However, Democratic majority leaders in both chambers say they are supportive of the reform this session, Honolulu Civic Beat reports.

Ranked-Choice Voting Gets Next Test in D.C. Suburbs

One of the hottest concepts in the world of election modernization is "ranked-choice voting" – where rather than selecting one candidate per contest, voters list candidates for each office in order of preference. Whenever no one secures majority support in the first round, an automated runoff among top finishers kicks in.

It's hailed by supporters as a means of giving more power to voters, enhancing the prospects of outsider candidates, boosting civility in campaigns and producing more consensus-minded lawmakers. Detractors see the system as confusing and in someway disenfranchising.

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People voting
Electoral Reforms

Make safe states matter

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Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Voters want to join the party being thrown by the Harris/Walz campaign, writes Cupp.

Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Joining the party, not the plotters

S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.

After covering six presidential elections and five midterm elections for more than 20 years, I’ve long believed that there are many reasons why a person votes the way they do. And all are valid.

Many vote on pocketbook issues, and, especially in times of economic pain, who could blame them for prioritizing things like gas prices over esoteric and intellectual concerns about democracy or limited government? Democrats, for their part, finally seem to be acknowledging that the economy may technically be strong, but stats can’t compete with feelings.

Others may be perennial single-issue voters. I’ve met plenty of voters on the left and the right who go to the polls with only abortion in mind, or gun control. Many have also voted in protest of events overseas — of the war in Iraq, for example, or now the war in Gaza. Who’s to tell them those aren’t worthwhile causes?

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Kamala Harris with her hand over her heart

Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the Democratic National Convention.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

How Kamala Harris is framing her theme of ‘freedom’

Anderson edited "Leveraging: A Political, Economic and Societal Framework," has taught at five universities and ran for the Democratic nomination for a Maryland congressional seat in 2016.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the pundits have reported, has shifted the language of the Democratic Party from democracy to freedom. Even her campaign theme song is Beyonce's "Freedom."

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Rob Richie
FairVote

Meet the change leaders: Rob Richie

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

Rob Richie is senior advisor at FairVote, an organization he co-founded in 1992 and led as CEO from 1992 to 2023. He has helped advance major electoral reforms, including the Fair Representation Act in Congress, a national popular vote plan, ranked-choice voting in Alaska, Maine and more than 50 cities, and voter access changes like preregistration, automatic voter registration, and remedies in voting rights cases.

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Map of the United States

The National EduDemocracy Landscape Map provides a comprehensive overview of where states are approaching democracy reforms within education.

The democracy movement ignores education races at its peril

Dr. Mascareñaz is a leader in the Cornerstone Project, a co-founder of The Open System Institute and chair of the Colorado Community College System State Board.

One of my clearest, earliest memories of talking about politics with my grandfather, who helped the IRS build its earliest computer systems in the 1960s, was asking him how he was voting. He said, “Everyone wants to make it about up here,” he said as gestured high above his head before pointing to the ground. “But the truth is that it’s all down here.” This was Thomas Mascareñaz’s version of “all politics is local” and, to me, essential guidance for a life of community building.

As a leader in The Cornerstone Project and a co-founder of The Open System Institute I've spent lots of time thinking and working at the intersections of education and civic engagement. I've seen firsthand how the democratic process unfolds at all levels — national, statewide, municipal and, crucially, in our schools. It is from this vantage point that I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that the democracy reform movement will not succeed unless it acts decisively in the field of education.

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