Nearly all of the most monumental and beneficial changes to political structures across the country have come at the behest of the people. From independent redistricting to anti-corruption measures, voters often take it upon themselves to fix a rigged political process. 

But what happens when the will of voters is stifled?

Can the partisan primary elections process be considered truly democratic? Not only do these elections often deny voters meaningful participation (if they are allowed to participate at all), but oftentimes the elections are decided by minority rule.

New analysis from the nonpartisan better elections group FairVote found that the winners of 55 statewide congressional and statewide primaries in 2022 so far garnered less than 50 percent of the vote. Nineteen of these elections were decided by less than a third of voters.

Ross C. Anderson, known to most as “Rocky” Anderson, joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about politics and the Justice Party.  Mr.

Independent voters are used to seeing people blame them for anything that happens in US politics. They are told that if only they voted for “Candidate X” a particular action wouldn’t have happened.

The accusation has been raised time and time again, and it is surfacing once more in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. People have said, “If you didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton, this is your fault.”

Editor's note: This op-ed originally published on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. Johnson is executive director of the Election Reformers Network.

Increasing polarization is raising concerns over the integrity of elections. Voters find themselves election after election faced with the question: Should elected officials loyal to their party call the balls and strikes for their own team in elections?

Washington independent secretary of state candidate Julie Anderson believes that election administration should be nonpartisan, both in nature and name.

The ballot measure process has been critical to the success of nonpartisan reforms across the country. However, according to new research by RepresentUs, 11 states have proposed over 60 laws to make it harder for citizens to have a direct say in the way their state’s political process works.

Scott Greytak, Director of Advocacy for Transparency International U.S., joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about that organization’s war on corruption. Transparency International U.S. (“TI U.S.”)is part of the world’s oldest and largest coalition against corruption with national chapters in more than 100 countries. Its purpose is to “give voices to victims and witnesses of corruption, and work with governments, businesses, and citizens to stop the abuse of entrusted power.” 

Ranked choice voting (RCV) is on a roll. Advocates have added win after win at the ballot box across the US. When the voting method is put to a vote, citizens tend to overwhelmingly show support for its use.

RCV allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. The method of RCV broadly used in the US is called instant runoff voting, which uses an automatic runoff system based off voters' preferences if no candidate gets over 50% of first choice selections without the added expense of a separate runoff election.

Editor's Note: The pieces below feature two sides to the debate on term limits from John Aldrich, Spencer Reynolds, and Laura Del Savio. These perspectives originally published on Divided We Fall and have been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher.

Will a Multi-Party System Save American Democracy? Very Unlikely. But Can a Centrist Party?

By John Aldrich – Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science, Duke University