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

California voters have a chance to make history this year by electing independent leaders to the state’s top executive offices for the first time in modern history. Among these independent candidates is an openly gay, pro-choice, tough on crime, Republican-turned-independent running for attorney general.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum, and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher.

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In 2020, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated more than $400 million to state and local governments to boost election administration funding. Since then, more than a dozen states, nearly all controlled by Republicans, have passed laws banning such private contributions.

Brian Mistrot, Founder and President of One Nation Movement, joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about his new political organization.  Mr.

Just when you thought Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi were on different sides of the aisle, current California Assembly member and congressional candidate Adam Gray is getting attacked by one side of the aisle for being a Trump supporter — and by the other side for being a Pelosi supporter.

There are few people that help steer the course of history. Dr. Peter Ackerman was one of them. 

Peter, who has been the driving force behind some of the most powerful efforts to unrig the two-party “duopoly,” passed away peacefully in his home on April 26, 2022.

A third of Maine’s electorate will have an opportunity for meaningful participation in taxpayer-funded elections. Governor Janet Mills allowed a bill to go into law Monday that creates a semi-open primary system that gives independent voters a say in the state's primaries.

“When we encourage and allow more voters to participate in our elections, we all benefit,” said state Senator Chloe Maxmin (D-Lincoln), who sponsored the legislation. “Voters have been asking for semi-open primaries for years, and I’m thrilled that we have been able to make it happen.”

Michael Maxsenti, co-host of the podcast Front and Center with Steve and Michael and an advisor to the new Common Sense Party of California, joins host T.J.

In most of the country independent voters, despite their growing numbers, are marginalized by closed partisan primary systems in which the winners are virtually pre-determined in low turnout primaries -- before independent voters can weigh in. 

Not so in California, where a decade-old non-partisan primary system lets all voters, including independents, vote in an open primary that advances the top two vote getters to the General Election, regardless of party.

What does it mean to be an independent voter in America? Do media outlets and the parties fail to understand independent voters? And, where do independent voters stand as we look ahead to the 2024 presidential election? IndependentVoting.org (Independent Voting) is conducting an online survey to shed light on these questions and more.