Voters in South Dakota may have an opportunity to change the way elections are conducted in their state. TakeItBack.org submitted over 40,000 signatures to South Dakota's secretary of state Monday in favor of a ballot initiative that would implement nonpartisan, top-two primaries in the state similar to the election model used for state legislative races in Nebraska.

The Supreme Court’s June 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision held that the fundamental right to marry extends to same-sex couples, a small minority of Americans. Among other things, the new right includes constitutionally guaranteed rights of inheritance and parental status for children.

A central theme in the 2016 Republican presidential primary debates has been the grandstanding and posturing of several candidates on how they would 'handle' Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin.

Putin, often with a flare for the dramatic, has placed the restoration of the Soviet 'Empire' as one of his key foreign policy goals -- a goal often seen as a direct conflict to American interests.

Voting with a touch of a finger has allowed us to conduct elections with greater ease, but the aging hardware of the electronic voting machines used in many states has caused security concerns to swell.

As the 2016 presidential election draws nearer, questions are being raised about Bill Clinton’s role as an honorary co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, a Republican-and-Democrat controlled board that determines the rules and particulars of U.S. general election presidential debates.

On Veterans Day 2015, many of the nation's veterans are looking to the large presidential field to lay out their plans for veterans programs in the U.S., something that did not happen during Tuesday's GOP debate. Continuing to ignore the nation's 21 million veterans is not going to win any candidate votes and may lose them the White House.

The Center for Public Integrity has evaluated all 50 states and found them lacking on issues of integrity and ethics, giving Alaska the highest grade of "C," while failing 11 other states.

Each state was assessed the same, by measuring the states on 13 separate criterion, ranging from openness and access to records to management of state pensions.

Recently, U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) posted a video of a 3 a.m. Senator Rand Paul(R-Ky.) speech on the floor of the Senate calling for senators to oppose the bipartisan budget deal before it was signed into law by President Obama last week.

The latest headlines on nonpartisan voting rights from across the nation. Enjoy.

What Impact Could An Independent Run By Jim Webb Have on 2016?

Source:  Austin Plier, FairVote

My Take: An interesting piece exploring angles not often explored, including a role in the electoral vote outcome of a number of swing states--especially his native Virginia.