CALAIS, MAINE - Independent gubernatorial candidate Terry Hayes is currently contending with negative campaigning against her, orchestrated by the Maine Republican Party. But not all Republicans are on board with the party's actions.

State Senator Joyce Maker from Washington County came out Wednesday in defense of Hayes and condemned her own party for resorting to negative campaign tactics.

“I just want to say that Terry Hayes is real and has kept her message positive and has not used negativity against her opponent(s)," said Maker.

In California, Proposition 8 and Proposition 10 are both ranking very high on both Ballotpedia's page views.  Ballotpedia's Sarah Rosier and IVN's Lindsay France take a look at the politics involved with the help of IVN's 2018 Voter Survey. Check out the methodology here.

Last Friday, my sister and I and our partners flew into an overcast Chicago for a family reunion of two dozen cousins and their spouses, children, even an “ex”-uncle. It had been 10 years since the last Cousins Club meeting, which I missed. The oldest was 91 (my dad), the youngest 15 (my cousin’s son).

The Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday: 

"Trying to get tens of thousands of voter registration errors under control, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla may temporarily halt a program that automatically registers voters through the Department of Motor Vehicles.

A freeze to the state’s Motor Voter program is 'certainly on the table,' Padilla said at a news conference on Tuesday."

WASHINGTON, DC - Hillary Clinton told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in a televised interview Tuesday that Democrats cannot be civil with Republicans if they don't win a majority of seats in the U.S. House or Senate this November:

San Diego, CALIF.- The newly implemented Motor Voter program is becoming a liability for Secretary of State Alex Padilla.

IVN.us was the first media outlet to report on the Motor Voter registration concerns. In September the California Department of Motor Vehicles admitted to incorrectly submitting 23,000 voter registrations to the Secretary of State's office due to technicians' error.

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - It’s simple math. The Kavanaugh confirmation has calcified partisan voters like no event in recent history.

The result? It’s all up to California’s second-largest group of voters, over 5 million NPPs. (NPP stands for “No Party Preference.”) These are voters who are saying “No to Partisan Politics” by registering independent.

This Election Guide provides ballot statements and highlighted IVN coverage regarding critical Measures for voters to consider this November.

WASHINGTON, DC - The national debt increased by $1,271,158,167,126.72 for fiscal year 2018 according to the latest information published by the U.S. Treasury this month. (The U.S. federal government's fiscal– or budgetary– year begins and ends on October 1st, not at the end of the calendar year.)

NEW YORK - We could not vote for Cynthia Nixon in her Democratic Primary challenge to Governor Andrew Cuomo last month, because we are independents and we were barred from casting primary ballots. But, we applauded her gutsy and spirited campaign, one that sought to expose critical failures in our state government and in the leadership of Andrew Cuomo.