It’s January 2021, there’s a new president in D.C., a new Senate majority and a Democratic majority crowing about how voting rights is their top priority, even making the For the People Act their first bill (H.R. 1 in the House and S. 1 in the Senate).

Cut to nine months later.

Could ranked choice voting soon come to the nation’s most populous state? That is the goal of a new coalition that officially launched on Tuesday, September 21.

Debilyn Molineaux's name is synonymous with cross-partisan bridge building and the importance of civil dialogue in a democratic society.

Danielle Coffey, EVP and General Counsel for the News Media Alliance, shares with Bryan the

Bryan discusses the latest on political technology with Will Gaffney of Simpli.fi, a leader in localized progra

John Palmer works in finance; his friend, Bruce Goldberg, works in health care. Although their careers have little to do with politics or political reform, over time they came to realize that American democracy was broken and the only way to save it was by reform the system.

David Nevins, co-founder and chair of the Bridge Alliance, joins T.J.

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

‍

The Republican and Democratic parties have dominated politics for decades, with alternative parties occasionally sprouting up but rarely having a significant impact on elections. Political reformers will be closely watching the latest attempt to break that two-party system.

On September 1, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, refused to prevent new, draconian Texas abortion legislation from taking effect. The Court’s tentative acceptance of that law, which among other provisions, only allowed a woman to seek an abortion before she likely knew she was pregnant, provoked outrage not only among pro-choice advocates, but also from many legal scholars deeply disturbed by the majority’s seeming abandonment of accepted jurisprudence. 

Maine has long been at the forefront of political innovation, from the way its ballots are designed, to its clean election funds program, to same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting, to implementing ranked choice voting. Yet, it bolstered its reputation even more when it passed semi-open primary reform in 2021.