As New Jersey voters prepare to vote in the state's primary on Tuesday, the dynamics of the state's primary system comes into sharp focus.

Voter turnout was already very low in 2013 as the Garden State had two significant elections: a special election to fill the late Frank Lautenberg's U.S. Senate seat and a gubernatorial race.

Someone I know got a call on her cellphone from a person who claimed to be from Verizon. The person claimed to be a representative of Verizon.

The caller asked her to "claim a $53 credit" from Verizon Wireless by logging into http://verizon53.com. When a person goes to the website, it appears to be an official Verizon website.

Assembly Member Marc Levine, of the North Bay’s 10th Assembly District, may be in for quite a fight to keep his seat this year.

Levine squeaked out a win in 2012, defeating incumbent Assembly Member Michael Allen of Santa Rosa by the thinnest of margins, a 163-vote difference that amounted to just 2.4 percent of the votes cast.

Twelve percent of those arrests were for drug-related crimes, the highest fraction of any category of crimes.

Throughout the history of the drug war, state and federal law enforcement agencies have cracked down on abusers and dealers alike. During the 1960s, while conducting narcotic experimentation, the U.S. government simultaneously founded the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD).

When discussing how our nation treats its veterans, the logical starting point is 1781 with the disbanding of the Continental Army after the Revolutionary War. Elaborate promises were made to both officers and enlisted men during the war, all of which were totally ignored by the government now under the Articles of Confederation.

Once again, America has been shaken by a horrible tragedy involving guns. This time, the mass shooting occurred near the University of California at Santa Barbara, (which happens to be my alma mater). There are some new wrinkles to the basic plot line, but the aftermath has played out about the same as the last 80 or so horrible tragedies involving guns. We are having a debate about guns.

The California 16th Assembly District race took an interesting turn last week when Democratic candidate Steve Glazer reached out to Republican voters and drew an attack from the Republican Party boss for doing so.

This is a district that Democrats would expect to win in November. The primary race is very close and the prevailing wisdom is that the Republican candidate, Catherine Baker, will make it through to the general election. If correct, that leaves a fight between Democrats Tim Sbranti and Steve Glazer for the second spot.

In Ohio, which has a mixed primary system, independent voters can vote in primaries only if they affiliate themselves with a recognized party. Independent candidates cannot appear on a primary ballot without forming a party that is approved and recognized by the state.

Although independent voters can access a special unaffiliated ballot, those ballots only allow them to vote on issues, not candidates for office. A small group of independents protested at the secretary of state’s office.

California’s top-two primary system, put into place in 2010 by the voter-approved Proposition 14, is in effect for the first time in a gubernatorial election year. Eric McGhee, Public Policy Institute of California research fellow and an expert in voting behavior and political participation, explains that this election is “a dearth of competitive races.”

Firearms and homicide: are they linked as closely in the United States as gun control advocates believe? Do they have a closer link than gun rights advocates are willing to admit?

With gun violence continuing to be a hot button issue, it would seem that now would be the proper time to finally come to a compromise -- one that does not infringe upon the rights guaranteed in the Second Amendment, nor allows firearms in the hands of those with a record of mental illness.