(12.15) One huge source of dissatisfaction this year has been the leadership of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). So let’s fix that. Sam Bell of RI Progressive Democrats of America invites you to learn more about Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison Thursday night at the Parlour. We need to start winning again. And that all starts …
Ellison For DNC Chair — Get Organized At Parlour Read More »
Legislation to eliminate the so-called “master lever” from Rhode Island ballots will get its first public hearing this afternoon, Wednesday, when the House Judiciary Committee meets at the Rise in Room 313 at the State House. State law currently requires ballots to include the straight-party option, which enables voters to vote for all the candidates …
An illuminating piece in today’s Providence Sunday Journal lays out the recent court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and what can be done to rectify it. Rhode Island state Rep. David Segal, a candidate for Patrick Kennedy’s seat in Congress, has introduced a bill calling for a Federal Constitutional Convention. The aim is …
Matt just interviewed Larry Lessig, who testified today in support of a resolution I introduced calling for a federal constitutional convention to address the Citizens United decision: In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Citizens United case, there are many, many outspoken critics of what may now be the next generation of …
An update from FairVote RI — Congratulations to everybody who’s been involved in the effort! In the last several months, Rhode Island, North Carolina, and California have all adopted this reform, joining Florida and Hawaii, and moving us closer to universal voter registration. FairVote Rhode Island today congratulated the Rhode Island Board of Elections on …
Youth Voter Pre-Registration Law Gets Implemented Read More »
It’s hard to understate the potentially devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case yesterday. Here’s Matthew’s take on it: Without having read the entire 183 pages of the decision and the dissents, it appears to me that this decision overturns Rhode Island’s current ban on the use of corporate dollars …
Nation editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel has a blog post up about the recent FairVote RI legislative victories — The pre-registraion bill sponsored by Rep. Ed Pacheco and Sen. Rhoda Perry, and the senate vacancies legislation sponsored by Rep. Chris Fierro and Sen. Paul Jabour: How do we make this a pro-democracy year? It’s not looking …
I’ve been writing for the Huffington Post here-and-there of late. Just authored this piece with my FairVote colleague Rob Richie. John Gideon was a prominent voting rights activist who sadly passed on Monday night. Rob proposes a “Gideon Initiative” which would rein in voting equipment contractors — who stymie electoral reform, increase chances of malfeasance, …
Rick Hasen, who runs what is probably the nation’s most respected elections law blog and listserv, has this piece in Slate about the unfortunate (and likely) outcome of the NAMUDNO case. On April 29, the last day of the court’s term, the justices will hear a case from an obscure utility district in Texas, Northwest …
It’s around the 3:20 mark: [youtube]v9hdVUzMeDw[/youtube] The Texas Democratic party and others called on Brown to apologize after she said voters of Asian descent should adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with.” The comments were part of an exchange with Ramey Ko, a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans, during a …
This Is Where She Suggests That Chinese Adopt Less-Confusing Names Read More »
UPDATE: I’m reposting this, from November, in response to Beth’s post below about Achorn’s article about the ‘party lever’ system. I agree with the need for more pluralism in the Assembly and in RI and US politics at large. But this paragraph in particular demonstrates that Achorn’s missing the point: Undoubtedly, Democrats are the more …
FairVote has spent the last 15 years pushing for a true democratization of our political structures — a real multi-party, multi-ideology representative democracy, expansion of the franchise, and more. The RI chapter started up last year, and we’re trying to build a broader local base for it. Our keynote speaker is Hendrik Herztberg, senior editor …
When FairVote booked New Yorker editor Hendrik Hertzberg for our fundraiser (Monday, Dec. 15th at the Hi-Hat from 6-8:30pm), we only knew he was a brilliant writer who loved election reform. We didn’t know he could also hold his own in a streetfight… My first inkling of my week as a Bill O’Reilly guest star …
Hertzberg: “I have a weakness for street weirdos” Read More »
Ah, the travails of being a boot-strap democracy reform organization: You usually need a huge scandal to get things moving, and FairVote (for which I recently started working as a consultant) has been crying in the dark for some time about the need to change the way Senate vacancies get filled. Here’s today’s press release: …
Electoral and third-party concerns that may or may not be of interest to y’all: The Greens pick up their first state legislature seat in a few years, in Arkansas. Instant Runoff Voting wins big in Memphis. Proportional Representation comes close in Cincy, but succumbs to a nexus of corporate interests. (Well-financed pols, the Bengals, and …
Some things I care about, but you probably don’t Read More »
UPDATE: I’m reposting this, from November, in response to Beth’s post below about Achorn’s article about the ‘party lever’ system. I agree with the need for more pluralism in the Assembly and in RI and US politics at large. But this paragraph in particular demonstrates that Achorn’s missing the point: Undoubtedly, Democrats are the more …