In the news
Background Briefing: Interview with Lawrence Lessig
The Fulcrum: Alaska case may open door to reversing Citizens United
Advocates of toughening campaign finance regulation are thrilled by a judge's ruling in Alaska this week, which they view as a potential starting point for reversing the Supreme Court decision that opened the floodgate of money into politics this decade.
KTUU: Home Politics Article Anchorage judge orders Alaska campaign contribution limit to be reinstated
An Anchorage judge has ruled that contribution limits should be enforced to independent expenditure groups, the Alaska equivalent of super PACs. The case was brought forward by Equal Citizens, a nonprofit based out of Washington D.C., on behalf of three Alaskans. The...
Common Dreams: ‘Historic’ Alaska Ruling Could Provide Roadmap to Defeating Citizens United
A ruling in a court in Alaska Monday could open the door to imposing more restrictions on super PACs and possibly reversing the infamous 2012 Citizens United by the U.S. Supreme Court that in 2012 upended the nation's campaign finance laws.
Value Walk: Group Wins Landmark Case Against Super PACs in Alaska
The Harvard Gazette: Our unrepresentative representative government
Lawrence Lessig has long crusaded against the influence of money in politics. But in a new book, the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School casts his sights on the broader topic of reinvigorating democracy. In “They Don’t Represent Us:...
New Jersey Law Journal: Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig says political reform needed to make the U.S. a representative democracy
Alaska Public Media: Judge says Alaska should crack down on unlimited contributions in state elections
A Superior Court judge in Anchorage has issued a ruling that may hobble the big-money independent expenditure groups that have come to dominate Alaska elections. Jason Harrow, of the group Equal Citizens, is one of the attorneys who brought the case on behalf of three...
Harvard Magazine: Medicine for an Ailing Democracy
Talking Points Memo: Voting Rights Must Be A Priority In 2020 Race
Heading into the 2020 elections, Democrats need to place an emphasis on pro-democracy reforms that cement the right to vote. And if they are able to win back the White House and the Senate, the party must be prepared to take advantage of their progressive majority and...
Nashua Telegraph: GOP primary hopeful Bill Weld talks gerrymandering, electoral college, voter suppression at town hall
Republican presidential primary candidate and former Mass. Gov. William Weld, right, answers questions during his appearance Sunday at an Open Democracy Action/Equal Citizens Town Hall event at the Courtyard by Marriott in Nashua.
Boston Globe: Bill Weld says country ‘is never going to be able to breathe a sigh of relief’ unless Trump is removed from office
Weld spent much of the discussion addressing Lessig’s questions on voting and campaign finance issues. Weld decried efforts by some members of his party to suppress the black vote and said he supports allowing felons who have served their time to vote, and he’s open...
Denver Post: Colorado seeks “urgent” decision from Supreme Court on faithless electors
Colorado is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the people picked to cast Electoral College votes are bound by their state’s rules on how to vote — a decision that has the potential to upend the way America picks its president ahead of the 2020 election.
Associated Press: Colorado appeals ruling on presidential electors
Colorado officials said Wednesday they want the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling that presidential electors can vote for the candidate of their choice and aren't bound by the popular vote in their states.
New York Times: ‘Faithless Electors’ Could Tip the 2020 Election. Will the Supreme Court Stop Them?
On Dec. 19, 2016, a little more than a month after the presidential election, members of the Electoral College gathered around the nation to cast their votes. Ten of them went rogue. A swing by that number of electors would have been enough to change the outcomes in...
Jurist: Supreme Court asked to decide whether electors must vote for state popular vote winner
Three 2016 electors from Washington state petitioned the US Supreme Court on Monday to decide whether the state has the power to enforce how an elector casts their ballot and to fine that elector for voting with discretion.
NBC News: Supreme Court to take up gay rights, DACA, religious freedom in new term
NPR: Abortion, Guns And Gay Rights On The Docket For Supreme Court’s New Term
Finally, pending before the court is a case that could involve the 2020 election. It is a test of " faithless elector" laws. These are laws passed in many states that impose penalties on Electoral College delegates or sometimes provide for the removal of electors who...
CNN: Supreme Court asked to decide if Electoral College voters are bound to the state’s winner
Three presidential electors in Washington state who voted for Colin Powell in 2016 rather than Hillary Clinton and were fined under state law, are asking the US Supreme Court to take up their appeal and decide whether a state can bind an elector to vote for the...
Good Morning America: Supreme Court takes on gay rights, DACA and guns in new term
Citizen Truth: 2020 Candidates Are Finally Taking Up the One Issue That Could Save our Democracy
Citizen Truth spoke with Adam Eichen of Equal Citizens about perhaps the most pressing issue of our time and the one issue that could fix our broken political system, democracy reform.
Salon: Republicans have rigged the maps and manipulated elections — why won’t Democrats talk about it?
As Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and the other leading Democratic presidential contenders prepared to debate in Houston last week, Crystal Mason readied for an important hearing of her own less than 200 miles away.
New York Daily News: NYC, vote for ranked-choice elections:
Maine will use it for the 2020 presidential election. Several presidential candidates from both major parties — including Democratic hopefuls Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Michael Bennet, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang and former Republican Gov. Bill Weld — support...
The Hill: Again, DNC debate moderators fail to ask about democracy issues
Americans are beyond frustrated with our political system defined by the rich turning their wealth into political influence. And voters across the political spectrum are ready for reform.
The Northern Iowan: The democracy movement and rank-choice
Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig has made a jump into this digital desert we inhabit with his podcast “Another Way.” The show is dedicated to a burgeoning “democracy movement” that is slowly growing across the United States. Lessig hosts a number of academics,...
Alternet: Group of 50 legal scholars call for 28th Amendment to overturn Citizens United
Harpers: Constitution in Crisis Has America’s founding document become the nation’s undoing?
Salon: It’s time to talk about our broken democracy. Will tonight’s Democratic debate moderators step up?
Los Angeles Times: As the next debate nears, trailing candidates soldier on in obscurity
ValueWalk: Tulsi Gabbard Announces Fixing Democracy As First Act As President
Lawyerist: Law in Context, with Larry Lessig
Take Care: No, Presidential Elector Litigation Will Not Lead To Chaos
Los Angeles Times: If you want the president to be elected by popular vote, support this litigation
A federal appeals court recently found that the Constitution requires presidential electors to be free to vote their conscience. Under this decision, states can ask its electoral-college members to publicly promise to vote for a particular candidate — for example,...
New York Times: Fix the Electoral College — Or Scrap It
If you were looking for the perfect distillation of how dysfunctional the American system of electing the president is, it would be hard to top last week’s federal appeals court ruling allowing “electors” — the members of the Electoral College — to vote for whomever...
Law & Crime: SCOTUS May Get Chance to Dismantle Electoral College in Time for 2020 Election
Religion & Story: Lester Land and the Most Important Political Issue (Maybe)
New York Times: Electoral College Members Can Defy Voters’ Wishes, Court Rules
In a ruling that kicks at the foundation of how America chooses presidents, a federal appeals court on Tuesday said members of the Electoral College, who cast the actual votes for president, may choose whomever they please regardless of a state’s popular vote. The...
Common Dreams: Electoral College Abolitionists Say Court Ruling Shows Why Current System ‘Terrible Way of Picking the President’
ABA Journal: ‘Faithless electors’ have right to vote for presidential candidates of their choice, 10th Circuit says
NBC News: Faithless elector: A court ruling just changed how we pick our president
The Denver Channel: Federal appeals court rules Colorado’s electors don’t have to vote for winner of state popular vote
Fox 31 Denver: Federal appeals court rules Colorado Electoral College electors don’t have to vote for winner
Bloomberg Law: Bans on Rogue Presidential Electors Heading to Supreme Court
Denver Post: Court finds Colorado electors were wrongly forced to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016
Colorado Sun: Colorado’s presidential electors don’t have to vote for candidate who wins the state, federal appeals court rules
The Hill: Appeals court says Colorado electors don’t have to vote for winner of state’s popular vote
WND: Court throws monkey wrench into U.S. presidential elections
The Hill: The magic of majority rule in elections
Those who pay close attention to the Democratic presidential horse race are salivating over recent polls showing that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) is “surging” and has now hit 20 percent support, with Biden holding a slim lead at 21 percent. But the real news is...
GlobePost: The US Can’t Fight Climate Change Until It Fixes Its Broken Democracy
Last month, record-breaking temperatures set off hundreds of heat advisories across the United States. Extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the country, and it’s getting worse. Consider that in 1999, the year I was born, my hometown of Chapel...
The Kyle Thiermann Show: Money in Politics with Jason Harrow
Medium: What Role Can Citizenship Data Play in the Apportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives?
Newsweek: The Border Crisis Is Not Just About Racism. Follow The Money.
Medium: We Need Your Help Again
Medium: An Open Letter to Democratic Presidential Candidates: Discuss Democracy Reform at the Debates
Medium: Equal Citizens July 2019 Update
We’re now smack dab in the middle of summer, but, in case you missed it, we’ve still been up to lots of energizing, important work to spread the word about why our democracy needs fixin’. Better yet, we want to make sure people know there are real solutions that will...
Medium: Reform The Vote: The Case for Ranked Choice Voting
USA Today: 2020 hopefuls should work with Devin Nunes to end gerrymandering
Recently, the Supreme Court closed the door on the idea that the federal courts would stop state legislators from gerrymandering districts. Many citizens hate the idea that their own legislators get to draw lines that protect incumbents and advantage one party over...
Medium: So You Want to Enforce Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment?
Washington Post: Why John Roberts may be right about gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is obviously democratically obnoxious. With modern technologies, it’s also increasingly democratically dangerous. It is inconsistent with the principles of equality and free association. Without doubt, it should be excised from our republic. Yet the...
Public News Service: NH Weekend March, Town Hall Focus on Need for Election Reforms
A march for public funding of political campaigns and a presidential town hall focusing on similar election reform issues capped off the Independence weekend in New Hampshire. The march Sunday was inspired by Granite State native Doris "Granny D" Haddock, who at the...
Seacoast Online: Group makes walk to rid big money from politics
A 20th anniversary walk from Kittery to Market Square by members and supporters of NH Rebellion aimed to bring awareness to the need to remove big money from politics. The group was joined in the walk by Democratic presidential hopeful Kirsten Gillibrand, who later in...
Medium: Fourth of July Reading
The Hill: Democracy reform subtly defines the presidential primary
Less noticed, but potentially even more significant, is the race to develop the boldest democracy reform platform. Though it largely did not come up during the debates, many Democrats are now noticeably campaigning as democracy reformers, promising to tackle issues...
Medium: Why We Are Launching POTUS1
Medium: Today The Supreme Court Ruled on Democracy
Medium: Trapped in a Gerrymander: Growing up in North Carolina Congressional District 4
WMUR: Gillibrand packs schedule for 7-day NH swing
Medium: Kirsten Gillibrand Headlines Equal Citizens Town Hall
Medium: “Representation is Demanded”: The Case for Felon Voting Rights
Medium: Debate Moderators Must Ask About Democracy Reform
Next week, 20 Democrats will take the stage in the first 2020 presidential primary debates. Though we can’t be sure about much regarding the debates, there is one thing about which we are absolutely certain: The moderators must ask the candidates about their plans to...
NBC News: Activist Lawrence Lessig was once a presidential candidate, now he’s interviewing them
Lawrence Lessig has a twinge of regret about not joining the massive field of candidates in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, so he’s doing the next best thing — starting a podcast to interview and cajole them to support his agenda of political reforms. The...
Medium: RCV-ing the Democratic Primary
We ran an experiment to see how “ranked-choice voting” would work on the current field of Democratic candidates for President. I’m not sure we’ve done it correctly, but I wanted to describe what we’ve done here, and make the data available to others. RCV gives voters...
CapeCod.com: Brewster Community Network to Host ‘Bridging the Divide’ Forum Next Week
FiveThirtyEight: Everyone Knows Money Influences Politics … Except Scientists
Medium: Fundamental reform must be on the Democrats’ Debate Stage
The Ezra Klein Show: Why good people are easily corrupted
Pineal Express: Lawrence Lessig on Fixing the Broken Government
Joining us today to talk about the pressing need to solve these fundamental problems of representation in the US government is Harvard Law Professor, Lawrence Lessig. Professor Lessig has argued that the United States has become “ungovernable” and that new,...
Grey Mirror: Larry Lessig, Harvard: #POTUS1 to “Fix Democracy First”
In today’s episode, I interview Larry Lessig, a Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, a co-founder of Creative Commons, and an advocate for “Fixing Democracy First”. We chat about #POTUS1 (an anti-corruption initiative that Larry is leading), updates...
Crosscut: Fight to stop ‘faithless’ presidential electors may not be over in WA
Bret Chiafalo thinks the Electoral College, which the United States uses to elect the president and vice president, is inherently undemocratic. But as long as the institution exists, says the former presidential elector, it should at least serve a purpose: as a final...
Law To Fact: Prof. Lawrence Lessig Discusses His Book, Fidelity and Constraint
WBUR: Biden In N.H., Trade War Escalates, Lawrence Lessig
WBUR: What The Supreme Court’s History Can Tell Us About Its Future
Fortune: What Is Ranked-Choice Voting? An Exercise in Representative Democracy, Reformists Say
Moving forward, ranked-choice voting could be one way of ensuring that every vote counts in the upcoming 2020 Democratic primaries. As it stands, the rules of the Democratic National Convention on delegate allocation in the primaries would make it so that thousands of...
The Guardian: American democracy is broken. We must demand 2020 candidates commit to a fix
Vox: Kirsten Gillibrand’s plan to get more small donors into politics: give every voter $600
Washington Free Beacon: Gillibrand’s First Major 2020 Proposal: Give Voters $600 Worth of ‘Democracy Dollars’
NBC News: ‘Democracy Dollars’: Gillibrand’s plan to give every voter $600 to donate to campaigns
Arsenal for Democracy: The RCV proposal for New Hampshire presidential primaries
The Hill: Four questions on the Electoral College
Talk of abolishing the Electoral College has reached a fever pitch—and, as usual in these polarized times, it has become a fierce partisan battle. Democrats have begun to align themselves against the Electoral College. Several senators introduced a bill to abolish it,...
EU Reporter: Anti-corruption bill #HR1 can fix the US’ broken democracy
Recently, the House of Representatives passed the most significant democracy reform bill in generations: The For The People Act (HR 1). This omnibus bill tackles virtually all aspects of our broken democracy—from the corrosive influence of money in politics to...
The Progressive: Behind the Electoral College Debate, a Flourishing Effort to Advance Democracy
Bloomberg: Why U.S. Keeps Debating How It Elects Its President
Americans have the longest, most expensive and arguably most complex system of electing a head of state in the world. After all the debates, caucuses, primaries and conventions, the person who gets the most votes can still lose -- as happened most recently in 2016,...
Public News Service: NH Town Halls to Grill Candidates about Reforming Democracy
NH Labor News: Tired Of An Economy That Works Only For The 1%?
NH Labor News: Announcing Equal Citizens’ Democracy Town Halls
Medium: Here’s Our Plan to Make Democracy Reform Central to the 2020 Presidential Election
In These Times: The Case for Using Ranked Choice Voting in the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primaries
Washington Monthly: The First Amendment vs. Democracy
These new-generation proposals are examples of so-called “level-up” campaign finance reform. They are designed to counter the power of big money not by pushing down on the super-rich, but by boosting everyone else. In 2018, for example, only 0.47 percent of Americans...
Medium: Equal Citizens March 2019 Update
There could be only one subject for this monthly update: HR1. As I’m sure many of you saw, the House of Representatives passed the most important (small d-) democratic reform package in fifty years — with public funding for congressional campaigns, gerrymandering...
Ozy: Will the ‘Live Free or Die’ State Usher in Ranked-Choice Voting?
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