The Democratic Party is currently challenging the open primary system in Hawaii. Although Hawaii's primary system is funded by all taxpayers, the Democratic Party is asking the court to close the primary, thereby preventing voters not affiliated with the major parties from being allowed to participate.

It may not go as far as many reform advocates wanted, but the USA Freedom Act has been called a step in the right direction by the American Civil Liberties Union. However, that was before even more changes were made to make the language of the bill even more ambiguous.

With only 2 weeks left until the June 3 nonpartisan, top-two primary, tensions are rising in the California Republican Party. Under the new primary system, which will undergo its second major test in 2014, all candidates and voters participate on a single ballot and the top two vote getters advance to the general election. This means candidates are selected by a broader base of the electorate rather than a small group of purely partisan voters.

Legislation that would legalize marijuana for medical dedications in New York cleared its first obstacle in the state Senate on Tuesday by passing the Health Committee in a 9-8 vote. A sole Republican, Sen. William Larkin of Orange County, joined eight Democrats to approve the bill.

On May 20, I passed the 150-mile mark of my 1,000-mile walking tour of Massachusetts. In these first few weeks, I have had over a hundred conversations and personally collected even more signatures for getting on the ballot. Just over a tenth of the way in, I can now say without any doubt that this is how representative democracy was meant to be.

With the announced retirement of South Dakota U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D) back in March, it seemed that a takeover of the seat by Republicans was all but certain due to a lack of viable Democratic candidates. However, the surprise reemergence of former Republican Senator Larry Pressler, now running to reclaim his seat as an independent, has served to make the race more interesting

"Today, I and many other citizens of Pennsylvania will be denied the right to vote," independent Pennsylvania voter Tom Stack wrote in a letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It is not because we are in prison or non-citizens. It is because we are registered Independents or not affiliated with a political party."

The hits just keep coming for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. For weeks, stories of the deplorable policies and procedures in place at VA Medical Centers across the country have continued to surface and have stirred outrage among service members, veterans, and Americans at large. As these accounts continue to emerge, an increasing number of Americans are calling for justice, but justice doesn't seem to be forthcoming.

In the Massachusetts 2013 special election, voter turnout statewide marked a record low at only 27 percent. While special elections typically struggle to attract voter interest, last year was particularly bad. The state also saw declining turnout numbers in the last major national election as well.