Let’s just call everything outside major urban centers, the rural vote. Betrayed by politicians of every political party, left out of every agriculture-related policy decision in every government agency, on the short end of every economic development strategy at all levels of government, the rural vote is changing. Still broken and outraged, a newly energized coalition now demands integrity in elections and true representation for the people of rural and small town economies.

You want that vote? Start here:

By all accounts New Mexico would seem to be a strong candidate for reform of their primary elections. At least that’s what we thought when we started working with local activists to build support there three years ago.

One of only nine states with completely closed primaries, New Mexico has seen rapid growth in the number of registered independent voters. In 2000, 15% of voters were not registered with either major party. Today, that number is 25% or approximately 300,000 people.

There are hundreds, literally hundreds of organizations and individual campaigns working right now to fix the myriad of problems that face our political and electoral processes -- from the local to the national levels. The organizations tackle voter rights, primary election reform, ballot access, gerrymandering reform, campaign finance reform, alternative voting methods, electing candidates outside the two major parties, and more.

The following are 10 of the biggest organizations working to reform elections and give voters more choice at the ballot box in 2020:

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - US Rep. Justin Amash has introduced a bill that seeks to level the playing field for all candidates running for Congress.

The bill requires states to impose the same ballot access requirements on all candidates, regardless of party nomination status or affiliation. It also eliminates straight-ticket voting for congressional elections.

The last year for The Center for Election Science was transformative. We received a grant from the Open Philanthropy Project of $600K, and then we helped win the first ballot initiative for approval voting the very same year. We won by 64%, a landslide by any measure. And we did it in a city of 120,000 people.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla published the latest voter registration numbers on Monday, March 11. Secretary Padilla touted record-setting registration of over 20 million people, nearly 30% of which are registered No Party Preference (i.e. independent).

The latest registration numbers, dated for February 10, show that NPP voters now comprise 28.26% of the registered voting population, an increase of 226,058 voters from the last registration report dated October 22, 2018.

I’ve been practicing law for almost 50 years. And I am still surprised when a court lets you know that the road you want to take is blocked. You may have the best arguments in the world, your client’s cause may be just, but you aren’t going to get there.

San Diego, Calif.- Independent Voter Network has learned Senator Ben Hueso will not be bringing  SB-615 to the floor in Sacramento for consideration.

SB-615 was crafted by San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott. It's a proposal that critics say, makes it much harder to sue agencies that fail to comply with the Public Records Act.

Since the New Year, I have been reading a steady diet of memoirs. The genre has captivated me since working with my 93-year-old father to finish his memoir, Hilltop Echoes, about growing up on a farm in rural Massachusetts.