If the 2024 presidential election follows recent trends, it will be the most expensive campaign finance cycle in modern US history with figures that will likely ascend into the billions of dollars. And this has many voters concerned about the state of money in politics.
US elections are the foundation of a paradoxical system. Voters are told every vote counts, but then see a presidential nomination process that is considered a done deal after not even 1% of voters have cast a ballot.
The West Virginia Republican Executive committee voted Saturday to switch to closed primary elections starting in 2026.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in The Fulcrum, and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. John E Palmer is chairman of Rank the Vote and a member of the board of the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers. Photo Credit: sarowen / Flickr
Louisiana, voters witnessed their legislature not only ignore their opinions on something as important as voter rights -- but lawmakers also spit in their faces.
Democratic US Presidential candidate and US Representative Dean Phillips (Minnesota) condemned the systemic threats to US elections at every level of the process in a recent conversation with Open Primaries President John Opdycke.
Just one week ago, the entire country took notice when Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said he wanted to dismantle the state's nonpartisan "jungle primary." In the midst of a special session, the Legislature swiftly moved a bill through both of its chambers that did not give the governor everything he wanted, but still disenfranchises over 800,000 non-major party voters in critical elections.