The events of January 6th shook our country to its core. Hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol, endangering the lives of Members of Congress, their staffers, and Capitol Police in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Despite the violence, some Republicans still chose to contest the results when Congress reconvened that… Read more
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It’s Not Over Yet: House Re-Introduces the For The People Act
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A new session of Congress kicked off with the introduction of For The People Act (H.R.1), a landmark bill designed to fix our broken political system, including campaign finance, voting rights, and public accountability. The bill was introduced on January 4th by Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland and co-sponsored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and… Read more
VICTORY: Alaska becomes the 21st state calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United
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On November 3rd Alaskans made history. In a tight vote, Alaska approved Ballot Measure No. 2, a suite of democracy reforms that will make both state and federal elections fairer, more transparent, and more accessible. Among them, a call for a new constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. “These mistaken Supreme Court decisions have invalidated… Read more
Florida’s Dark Money Dark Horse
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In America’s two-party system, the presence of third-party candidates is often met with mixed responses. Often, when a third-party candidate with a similar platform to a major-party candidate enters a race, they cause division among voters, resulting in a win for the opposition. Case in point: Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election, or Eliot… Read more
The Modern Voting Rights Movement
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100 years ago this week, the Tennessee House of Representatives made history when it became the deciding state to ratify the 19th Amendment, prohibiting voter discrimination on the basis of sex. Nearly 50 years after the Seneca Falls Convention, white women gained the right to vote in U.S. elections. It would still be many years… Read more
We Need Diverse Leaders. Public Campaign Financing is Part of the Solution.
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The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other people of color have led to a watershed moment in American history. For the first time in more than 50 years, Americans are taking a hard look at the lengths to which racism still poisons the land of the free. The… Read more
Elections and the HEROES Act
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Last month, we watched as Wisconsin attempted to conduct its primaries as usual. The results were disastrous. The Wisconsin Department of Health traced 52 cases of COVID-19 back to in-person voting on April 7. Meanwhile, each state has approached its response to the coronavirus differently, its voting systems included. Enter Congress and the HEROES Act.… Read more
Our Protest Continues
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We’re living in a new world these days. We are staying home instead of going out when the weather gets warmer. When we do go outside, we are staying six feet apart or wearing masks. Our homes have become schools, offices, gyms, refuges. Frontline workers like doctors, nurses, first responders, grocery store clerks, mail carriers,… Read more
How COVID-19 is Changing American Democracy
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COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, has dominated the headlines for the past few weeks. People across the country are practicing social distancing as doctors, nurses, grocery store employees, and countless others have put themselves on the front lines to combat this novel pandemic. The way we practice democracy is also adjusting. Candidates for offices… Read more
The For The People Act: One Year in Purgatory
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This week marks one year since the House of Representatives passed H.R.1, the landmark For The People Act. What’s happened to the bill since? It’s sat in Mitch McConnell’s legislative purgatory in the Senate. The For The People Act sought to combat some of the greatest challenges facing our democracy. To name a few: It… Read more