In the news
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?
Medium: Improving Democracy: Ranked Choice Voting
Consider It: The Corrupting Influence of Money in American Politics
The Lamron: Legal scholar Lawrence Lessig gives lecture urging open access to scholarly works
TechDirt: A Book Review Of Code And Other Laws Of Cyberspace
Real Change: ‘Republic Lost: The Corruption of Equality and the Steps to End It’
The Hill: We need ranked-choice voting in the presidential primaries
If the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary were held today, the results would be disastrous. That is, at least as far as representative democracy is concerned. A new YouGov poll released by the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that New Hampshire...
WXXI: Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig on the power of money in politics
Livingston County News: Creative Commons founder to give address at SUNY Geneseo
Lancaster Online: The Advantages of Ranked Choice Voting
FairVote: Larry Lessig and Adam Eichen talk ranked choice voting in New Hampshire presidential primary
Concord Monitor: New Hampshire Dems silencing New Hampshire Dems
The New Hampshire Legislature, now controlled by the Democratic Party, had an extraordinary opportunity to allow voters in New Hampshire to speak more clearly in the upcoming 2020 presidential primary. Last week, the House Election Law Committee decided to keep the...
Who What Why: Is Ranked Choice Voting the Fix for a Broken Primary System?
The number of candidates vying for the Democratic nomination next year could smash all records. But such a large field also means that most voters will likely end up disappointed because their preferred candidate is eliminated. Is an election where most people’s...
IVN: We Offer A Path to More Choice in Elections; Only The Duopoly Stands In Our Way
This column was supposed to be a victory lap of sorts. The NH House Election Law Committee met on February 13, to deliberate about and vote on HB 728, a bill to implement ranked choice voting (“RCV”) in New Hampshire. It offers staggered implementation, starting in...
FairVote: Why New Hampshire doesn’t spell the end for RCV in presidential nominations
Ranked choice voting for New Hampshire’s presidential primary could have been a godsend for a crowded field of Democratic candidates. But the bill has landed in legislative purgatory after the state Election Law Committee decided Wednesday to delay further...
San Antonio Express-News: San Antonio judge weighs legality of Electoral College process in choosing a president
Lawyers for the state on Wednesday asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit challenging Texas’ Electoral College process as plaintiffs dug in to their claims that the winner-take-all method is unconstitutional, discriminatory and leads to the dilution of the...
IVN: Less Bruising, More Choice: New Hampshire Considers Less Destructive Primaries
FairVote: Ranked ballots could debut in 2020 presidential primaries
First it was 20, then 30, and now, predictions for the Democratic presidential nomination have become less about how many candidates will run than just few will not. And with each exploratory committee announcement, a new wave of worry washes over the upcoming...
Washington Post: The Trailer
Will ranked-choice voting take over the primaries? On Saturday, Iowa's central Democratic committee met to discuss ways that voters who cannot physically appear at the state's 2020 caucuses might be able to participate — perhaps with ballots that allow them to rank a...
Concord Monitor: Proponents say ranked-choice voting could keep NH primary from fading
Harvard law professor Larry Lessig has been in New Hampshire often enough for political advocacy that he knows what will get lawmakers’ attention here, and he got right to the point Tuesday: He thinks our presidential primary is in danger. Lessig was testifying in...
Harvard Law Today: A Precarious State
Mother Jones: To Fight Democrats’ First Bill, GOP Calls in Discredited Advocates of Voter Suppression
FairVote: Ranked Choice Voting: A solution to crowded 2020 primary
In a joint editorial published in The Hill, U.S.Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland), FairVote President Rob Richie, and Equal Citizens’ Adam Eichen frame ranked choice voting (RCV) as a potential remedy for the Democratic Party’s anticipated problems in the 2020 nomination...
Medium: Electors Freedom Update January 2019
Last week, Equal Citizens founder Larry Lessig and I made a two-hop trip to Olympia, Washington and then Denver, Colorado to present argument in two appeals presenting the same important, unresolved question: can states require that presidential electors vote for the...
Hyperallergic: How the Re-Opening of the Public Domain “Has Allowed Us to Have Our Culture Back”
Boing Boing: Lawrence Lessig on designing a corruption-resistant democracy for a virtual world
USA Today: Trump holds US hostage to border wall it doesn’t support. That’s extortion, not leadership.
The Hill: A crowded 2020 presidential primary field calls for ranked choice voting
With dozens of Democrats lining up to run for President in 2020, now is the time to adopt ranked choice voting in early states to guarantee that primary winners have clear majority support. Greater choices for voters is welcome, but crowded primaries can produce...
USA Today: Trump holds US hostage to border wall it doesn’t support. That’s extortion, not leadership.
Seven percent of America believes that Congress should fund President Donald Trump’s wall on the U.S.-Mexico border in order to end the government shutdown. That fact is an enormous opportunity to change the dynamic between this Congress and this president. House...
Denver Post: “Faithless electors’” challenge to Colorado electoral college law to be heard in Denver appeals court
Three Colorado electoral college voters who argued that their constitutional rights were violated when they were forced to vote against their conscience in the 2016 presidential election will get their day in a federal appeals court Thursday. The U.S. Court of Appeals...
Associated Press: Washington state electors challenge fine for anti-Trump bid
Three Democratic presidential electors from Washington state who joined a longshot effort to deny Donald Trump the presidency in 2016 are challenging the $1,000 fines they received for breaking their pledge to support their party’s nominee. The three agreed to support...
K5News: Washington’s 2016 electoral defectors argue against fine to state Supreme Court
Spokane Public Radio: WA Supreme Court Hears Case About Presidential Electors
The Spokesman-Review: Washington has one fight left from the 2016 election
Inside Sources: Ranked Ballots Select ‘Best Picture’; Why Not Our Presidents?
Ranked choice voting for the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, as proposed by FairVote and Equal Citizens, offers a proven solution. It avoids wasted votes, frees voters to support their real preferences and reveals which candidate has majority support. And...
KUOW: Electoral College debate heads to Washington’s Supreme Court
Three Washington Democrats will explain Tuesday to the state Supreme Court why they voted against their party's presidential nominee in the 2016 election. The three, Levi Guerra, Esther V. John, and Peter B. Chiafalo, were among 12 Democrats the state sent to the...
Medium: Equal Citizens January 2019 Update
It’s the 15th, which means we owe you a message about where we are and where we’re going. And while we’ve got many sticks in the fire — and one I’m itching to launch asap (more on that soon I hope) — let me use these paragraphs to talk a bit more about what our legal...
The Hill: The ‘Trump shutdown’ is also a failure of Congress – particularly Mitch McConnell
WNHN: The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen Discusses Ranked Choice Voting
The Independent: Trump is the real ‘national emergency,’ Harvard law professor says
Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig, a respected constitutional law expert has disregarded Donald Trump’s description of a “crisis” at the Mexican border, saying the real national emergency is the president himself. Mr Lessig was asked about Mr Trump’s threatening...
Medium: The New Hampshire Presidential Primary is Broken. It’s Not Too Late To Fix It.
The New Year has officially ushered in the start of the 2020 presidential election. Already, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced that they are forming exploratory committees to seek the Democratic presidential...
Huffington Post: Donald Trump Is The Real National Emergency, Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig Says
Constitutional law expert and Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig dismissed President Donald Trump’s characterization of the immigrant situation at the Mexican border as a crisis on Sunday, then said the real national emergency was “this president.” Asked about Trump’s...
Raw Story: Harvard law professor concludes the only true national emergency is Donald Trump
MSNBC: The Real National Emergency is Donald Trump
Common Dreams: Legal Scholars to Trump: No, You Cannot Declare Emergency to Build Wall That Public Doesn’t Want and Isn’t Needed
New York Magazine: House Democrats Aim to Make Voting Rights a National Priority
Mother Jones: Democrats’ First Order of Business: Making It Easier to Vote and Harder to Buy Elections
The Guardian: Trump’s border wall demand is constitutionally illegitimate
It feels quaint – maybe a bit absurd – to remark the fact that Donald Trump has no constitutionally moral justification for his demand that Congress fund the building of a wall on the Mexican border. Such an argument feels absurd when made against this president. Yet...
Los Angeles Times: Why the podcast revolution is here to stay
Medium: Massachusetts Equal Votes Update
Medium: Equal Citizens December 2018 Update
Washington Post: Happy Hour Roundup
Lawrence Lessig explains why the political reform bill Democrats will offer next year is the most important civil rights legislation in decades.
USA Today: Democratic House will address most important civil rights issue in half century
H.R. 1 would establish, for the first time in American history, a system to fund congressional campaigns through small-dollar matching funds; thus would it liberate members of Congress from dependence on large private funders. The bill would brilliantly leverage...
Anchorage Daily News: Challenging super PACs in Alaska
We are longtime Alaskans. We’ve not been major donors to any political campaign ourselves but, with some alarm, we watched the deluge of political ads in the run-up to the November elections and could see that millions upon millions of dollars were spent in an attempt...
New York Times: Two Leading Intellectuals Analyze What Ails America
Medium: Contrary to GOP leaders, Conservative Voters Favor Democracy Reform
EqualCitizens.US Announces National Ranked Choice Voting Effort for 2020 Election
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: November 19, 208 Contact: Blair Fitzgibbon (202) 503-6141 [email protected] EqualCitizens.US Announces National Ranked-Choice Voting Effort for 2020 Election On the heels of Maine electing the first ever US Congress Member using...
Bangor Daily News: Maine led the nation with ranked-choice voting. Will others follow?
USA Today: Ranked-choice voting worked in Maine. Now we should use it in presidential races.
Medium: Equal Citizens November 2018 Update
The Guardian: Beto O’Rourke’s biggest blind spot cost him Texas. Democrats, take note
There is an uncertain hopefulness among Democrats just now about the party’s victories on Tuesday. All are relieved that Democrats captured the House, though many are puzzled that even this was so difficult. Beyond the House, the victories were even less certain....
Slate: Samantha Bee Finds a Way to Talk About Campaign Finance Reform That Won’t Make Your Eyes Glaze Over
Medium: Besides The Partisan Battle, Here Are Some Important Fights To Watch Tonight
USA Today: Donald Trump is no electoral phenom. He’s more like Michael Dukakis than Ronald Reagan.
Vox: Seattle’s radical plan to fight big money in politics
BC Law: The Electoral College Dilemma
Medium: How Young People Could Have Stopped Donald Trump and George W. Bush
The 2018 midterms may be the most important election in recent memory, with the potential to stem the rightward tide of our politics or enable it further. In fact, 62 percent of Americans surveyed believe this election to be the most important midterm in their...
The Hill: Electoral College Confusions
The Electoral College is returning to the center of American political debate. But fortunately, this time, the questions are getting raised before there is an actual vote in a particular presidential election. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallied a Democratic Socialist...
Reddit: AMA with Lessig
New Hampshire Union Leader: NH residents react to NH Supreme Court’s move on SB3
BoingBoing: Lawrence Lessig explains corruption in words small enough for the Supreme Court to understand
Lawrence Lessig was once best-known as the special master in the Microsoft Antitrust Case, then he was best known as the co-founder of Creative Commons, then as a fire-breathing corruption fighter: in America, Compromised, a long essay (or short nonfiction book),...
Boston Globe: Could Maine’s new ranked-choice voting change American elections?
ON A COOL MONDAY EVENING in late September, Kyle Bailey stands at a high-top table at the back of Nonesuch River Brewing in Scarborough, Maine. The brewery’s customers, bundled in flannels and fleece, are talking with friends over burgers or poutine, mostly unaware of...
USA Today: Trump hones midterm campaign themes: Kavanaugh, impeachment, nicknames
Donald Trump is back in the place he loves best: the campaign trail. The president is logging thousands of miles on Air Force One with the midterm elections approaching Nov. 6. He is fighting to prevent a Democratic takeover of Congress, which would derail much of his...
The Hill: Super PACs driving the midterms unsurprisingly
With a little over a month to go before the midterm elections, Super PACs just set a dubious record: with total independent expenditures at $549 million and counting, 2018 has passed 2014 as the midterm election with the most Super PAC spending in history. And,...
WGBH: Minority Rule: Why Our Undemocratic Republic Must Give Way To Something Else
If something can’t go on forever, then it won’t. And so it is with the current state of our democracy, which awards disproportionate power to an ever-shrinking slice of the electorate. Today the president, the Senate, and the Supreme Court reflect the will of a...
Medium: My new podcast “Another Way” goes live today
Lawrence Lessig Launches Podcast Series Ahead of Midterms
On Friday, February 2, 2018, lawyers with Equal Citizens filed a lawsuit against the Alaska Public Offices Commission, or “APOC” in order to create a case that can work its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court with the goal of eliminating Super PACs across the nation.
Citizen Truth: Citizens United and Super PACs Targeted in Pivotal Alaskan Lawsuit
There’s a lawsuit in Alaska working to overturn the infamous 2010 Citizens United ruling that opened the door for super PACs to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. On Thursday, arguments began before Anchorage Superior Court Judge Andrew...
NBC Anchorage: Are super PACs and dark money corrupting Alaska politics? State court to hear both sides Thursday
The Eagle Tribune: Public funds can change dynamics of elections
Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, who has galvanized New Hampshire residents with N.H. Rebellion walks, and actor Sam Waterston of TV’s “Law and Order,” discoursed on stage at Capital Center for the Arts, sponsored by Open Democracy (Granny D’s group pushing to...
Jamaica Plain Gazette: Want a better president, better elections? States need to stop winner take all
Journal Sentinel: Here’s how you can register to vote: Print out this form
Concord Monitor: Advocates think 2019 is the year for publicly funded elections
IVN: Courts to Hear Legal Challenge to Electoral College
What can be done to improve the way we elect our president? The current system, where nearly every state gives all of its electoral votes to whatever candidate wins that state, is nonsensical. It throws out tens of millions of votes and forces candidates to focus on...
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