Statewide efforts to adopt open and nonpartisan primaries, as well as ranked choice voting, failed in this year’s election, delivering a stinging setback to the election reform movement.
The measures sought to reduce political polarization in U.S. politics. And while an overwhelming share of Americans say they are unhappy with the country’s democratic systems, these initiatives were voted down in states across the country this week.
“The status quo won this year,” said Deb Otis, director of research and policy at FairVote, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for ranked choice voting and other electoral reforms. “The pro-democracy ballot measures, including anti-gerrymandering reform and open primary-only initiatives, tended to do worse than expected at the ballot.”
Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and South Dakota had ballot measures that would have replaced party primaries with nonpartisan contests and/or created a ranked choice voting system in their elections. A majority of those measures sought to implement both.
An effort to move to an independent redistricting commission in Ohio lost. And a measure to repeal nonpartisan primaries and ranked choice voting in Alaska remains too close to call….
“Trump said lots of noncitizens would attempt to vote illegally, but it didn’t happen”
“Special counsel Jack Smith calls for a halt in Trump prosecution”
Special counsel Jack Smith has moved to cancel a series of deadlines in his Washington, D.C. criminal case against Donald Trump for seeking to subvert the 2020 election.
It’s the first public acknowledgment by Smith’s team that the case cannot continue in light of Trump’s imminent return to power.
The judge has vacated all the deadlines and asked for a DOJ status report by Dec. 2.
New “Law and Democracy” podcast on what happened in the election
On YouTube and Apple Podcasts.
Open Secrets Lays Off Researchers, in Blow to All of Us Who Work with Their Excellent Data
Very sad to see this. Their work is indispensable.
There needs to be adequate funding for nonpartisan entities like this doing such important work. They are providing a key public good.
And of course on a personal level I am sorry to see these excellent researchers losing their positions.
“Despite claiming victory, McCormick challenging provisional ballots in Philly” (Now Updated with McCormick’s Filings)
Republican Dave McCormick may have declared victory in his U.S. Senate race over incumbent Democrat Bob Casey, but in court, the race is still very much an ongoing concern.
McCormick filed a pair of lawsuits Friday morning in Philadelphia challenging 15,000 to 20,000 provisional ballots that city elections officials were set to consider counting this morning.
In a contest where McCormick narrowly leads Casey by roughly 30,000 votes, whether those ballots in Philadelphia – and similarly cast provisional votes from voters in other counties – are counted has the potential to “impact … the outcome of the election,” McCormick’s attorney George Bochetto wrote.
The McCormick campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the lawsuits, including why the filings suggested the ballots could affect the outcome of the election when McCormick has declared victory and said there’s no way Casey could win…