This past week, I filled out my ballot for Washington, D.C.’s June primary elections and mailed it. I did it out of a sense of civic duty not because I am under any illusion that any of my candidates will win in November’s general election. None of them have a chance. The only candidates listed […]
Requiring majority winners for congressi...
Most elections for Congress feature a general election with a Democrat and a Republican who previously were picked by partisan primaries. These first-past-the-post elections present voters with a singular choice: Pick the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate. This limited choice is becoming increasingly problematic for Americans as fewer and fewer of them much like either of […]
A democratic norm endures January 6th: C...
The siege of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the effort to subvert the counting of all states’ lawfully submitted electoral slates appeared to validate the narrative of democracy’s impending demise. The incident sent shock waves through all three branches of government, and the day will live in infamy. Yet, for all the […]
Nonpartisan redistricting in California:...
California recently finalized its redistricting map. The state lost one seat after the 2020 Census, but the Golden State still will send a whopping 52 legislators to the 435-member House of Representatives in January 2023. By law, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission (CCRC) draws the congressional districts, along with the boundaries for the state’s Senate, assembly, […]
How to end the voting wars
January was an intense month in the ongoing voting wars between the two major parties. Even the most eager observer of election politics likely was exhausted by it all. The frenzy began with various media remembrances of the Jan. 6, 2020 riot in the Capitol that delayed the presidential transition. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ensured […]
Is there a path forward for Congress on ...
Last month’s party-line vote in the Senate to not enact new elections reform legislation was unsurprising. The legislation had been drawn up by congressional Democrats, and was presented to the GOP as a take-it-or-leave it proposition. Republicans saw little to like in the sprawling 700-page bill that combined both the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and a […]