In the news
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...
Washington Post: Here’s how newspapers could help you register to vote
Newspapers across the country should follow the Times and print a voter registration form on their front pages. And what better day for the media to promote democratic participation than on Sept. 25, National Voter Registration Day?
Medium: Equal Citizens September 2018 Update
Democracy Café: Why Joaquin Gonzalez has joined the all-out effort to overhaul the Electoral College
When Joaquin Gonzalez heard about the effort of Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig and other compatriots to challenge and prospectively overhaul the 'unrepresentative' way Electoral College votes are distributed via a winner-take-all system, he immediately reached...
Medium: Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport: What We Learned From a Voting Experiment with Bassnectar
When most older people hear electronic dance music (EDM), they think of reckless young people wasting their lives away on mindless indulgence, and to be honest, we were somewhat skeptical when Bassnectar invited us to run an election reform education program at his...
KALW: Lawrence Lessig analyzes how corrupt institutions erode the common good
On this edition of Your Call, we’ll talk with law professor Lawrence Lessig, who has spent much of his career trying to fix our broken political system.
WGBH: Harvard’s Lawrence Lessig On His Legal Fight To End “Winner-Take-All” Rules In Electoral College
Is the Electoral College broken? So argues Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, a former presidential candidate and the founder of the non-profit group Equal Citizens, who along with people like former Mass. Governor Bill Weld, is leading a series of lawsuits to fix...
Medium: Why Democracy Reform? Our Summer Interns Explain.
For those fighting to fix our broken democracy, there is often a tendency to drown in the specifics or technicalities.
Medium: Stop The Madness: It’s Time to Pass Automatic Voter Registration
The 2018 midterm elections are less than three months away and grassroots organizations are now laser-focused on registering voters.
Washington Journal: Lawrence Lessig Discusses Legal Challenges to the Electoral College
Medium: Equal Citizens August 2018 Update
Blog: The State of The Democracy Movement: June and July Edition
The state of our democracy is constantly in flux. Even for those who spend their time in democracy’s trenches, it’s very hard to keep track of everything that happens across all 50 states.
Commonwealth Magazine: Galvin, Zakim trade verbal punches
The Blaze: Group sues four states to challenge winner-take-all system for Electoral College selection
NBC Boston: High-Profile Attorneys Push for Change to Electoral College System
Techcrunch: Russian indictments show that the US needs federal oversight of election security
TechCrunch, July 18, 2018 President Trump’s Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin, on the heels of 12 Russian intelligence officials indicted for hacking the 2016 election, made it clear that this administration has zero commitment to protect our elections from future...
Anchorage Daily News: A lawsuit in Alaska can begin the end of SuperPACs
So the first steps toward finally restoring limits on SuperPACs could take place in Alaska. Whether history will be made here depends on how seriously judges consider our framers' attempts to prevent corruption.
Medium: Equal Citizens July 2018 Update
Medium: 150 years later: Can the 14th Amendment be used to fix the Electoral College?
The Hill: Presidential electors deserve the right to vote their conscience
TechCrunch: Advocacy groups knock ‘unjust’ copyright-extending CLASSICS Act
Medium: The Electoral College Reform Movement Made Great Strides This Month, But Is It Enough?
Houston Chronicle: Texas’ winner-take-all elections mean unfair results
NBC Think: This Is How To Ultimately Beat The NRA
Wired: Congress’ Latest Move to Extend Copyright Protection is Misguided
Washington Post: Mick Mulvaney shows why we need to radically change our elections
Newsweek: Mick Mulvaney Warns Bankers: I Only Spoke to Lobbyists Who Paid Me
Business Insider: ‘This puts a target on his back’: Ethics experts say the FBI should investigate Trump’s budget director for pay for play
Jurist: Colorado presidential electors bound by state law to echo popular vote
KOAA News 5: Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against Secretary of State Wayne Williams
The Denver Post: Federal judge tosses “faithless” presidential elector lawsuit against Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams
The Washington Free Beacon: Judge Rules Members of Electoral College Must Follow Popular Vote
AP: Colorado Electoral College reps told to follow popular vote
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