Each election reform category listed on this page is designed to help you explore the many ways American democracy can be improved and to expose you to the ongoing debates of experts in the field. This is the battle to save American democracy.
Our main page about American democracy, voting, and election reform has news related to money politics, third parties, voting methods, election technology and more.
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Good Riddance to Senator Romney (9/18/2023) - Utah's political landscape suffered a great misfortune recently as well-tolerated oligarch Mitt Romney announced he… 
Small Donors Are Making Elections More Democratic (5/11/2023) - The growth of small-dollar donations has made races more competitive, as incumbents face challenges from… 
How Megadonors Circumvent Laws To Buy Politicians (5/7/2023) - America's megadonors pump cash into political systems, circumventing finance laws using joint fundraising committees. 
Bipartisan Ban On Stock Trading In Congress Introduced (5/7/2023) - AOC, Gaetz & Fitzpatrick introduced the Restoring Faith in Government Act to ban Congress members… 
Report Details Pentagon-to-Contractor Lobbying (5/2/2023) - 672 former officials worked for top defense contractors, 91% in lobbying roles, as they receive… 
Dark Money Group Plans To Back Hand-Picked Presidential Candidate (4/12/2023) - Laying the groundwork to launch a centrist, third-party “unity” ticket in 2024, the billionaire-funded group… 
The Non-Controversy Over Mail Voting (10/15/2023) - The benefits of mail voting are numerous, the drawbacks are mostly imaginary. Mail voting must… 
Voting Should Not Just Be For The Rich (10/8/2023) - Voting decides who makes decisions in the country, it decides where the $6.27 trillion budget… 
Montana Defeats Restrictive Third Party Access Bill (4/29/2023) - Lawmakers stymied an attempted revival of legislation that would raise the signature threshold for third-party… 
Voters With Disabilities Often Overlooked In Voting Battles (4/5/2023) - A lawsuit has been filed in Chicago alleging that the city's Board of Elections discriminates… 
Setbacks Dog Push To Tighten College Campus Voting Laws (4/5/2023) - Party officials nationwide are increasing voting barriers for young, mostly Democratic voters, following their surging… 
How Big Should The House Of Representatives Be? (3/30/2023) - We all know that democracy is about words and law, oratory and policy. But democracy… 
Challenges Of Implementing AI With “Democratic Values” (4/29/2023) - A closer look at one of the most accepted norms for AI systems demonstrates the… 
Twitter Changes Boost Autocrats’ Digital Disinformation (4/27/2023) - Recent changes at Twitter have enabled authoritarian governments in Russia, China, and Iran to amplify… 
Europe Needs Stronger Rules For Political Ads (3/30/2023) - Proposed EU regulation will increase public scrutiny of paid political messaging, restrict distribution of political… 
A Campaign Aide Didn’t Write That Email. A.I. Did. (3/30/2023) - Fake A.I. images of Donald J. Trump getting arrested in New York spread faster than… 
Defending Democracy Against A Rapidly Evolving Internet (3/16/2023) - 2022 saw significant online ecosystem changes that have the potential to further erode global democratic… 
Philadelphia To Use Electronic Poll Books In This Year’s Election (2/8/2023) - This year, Philadelphia voters will choose a new mayor. When they head to the polls… rebirth of american democracy
The most important and revolutionary attribute of the American republican form of government has always been that it utilizes a system of popular elections to fill key positions. As everyone knows, the first American elections were only for white landowning men. But despite these extreme limits on access and often violent policy making (Native American genocide and the institution of slavery in particular), it really was the world’s first mass democratic election. This wasn’t an election among a few thousand nobility in a single city.
In George Washington’s first election in 1789, nearly one million people voted in an honest contest to choose their own leadership. The Founding Fathers‘ greatest legacy is that the country has been holding increasingly inclusive free and fair elections at the national, state and local levels at least every two years for over 230 years without interruption. Despite all the faults of the Founding Fathers, this is quite a legacy.
That being said, the quality of elections in modern America is arguably worse than it used to be. Democracy Chronicles hopes to include the latest news on all efforts to examine and reform American elections and to expose our readers to discussion on this topic in such a way as to reflect the diversity of debate on the subject. This rigorous focus on every aspect of election law in the United States should be interesting to even international readers and we have intentionally set up our website to place American democracy news right next to our coverage on world democracy. After all, the struggle for more democracy is universal.
Oregon Ranked Voting: On The Ballot (10/23/2024) - Some objectors complain that the state legislature didn’t include itself in the proposed voting-system change. 
On a Rocky Hill in Athens, a ‘Democratic Odyssey’ Begins (10/31/2023) - Could a European People’s Assembly—Politician-Free and Chosen by Lottery—Become a Permanent Branch of Government? 
Kern puts on mock election to seek efficiencies (6/17/2023) - Kern county's mock election features two fictional candidates, testing staff readiness for future real elections… 
Ranked Voting’s Rare But Real Mathematical Flaws (5/7/2023) - RCV has some theoretical and historically observed flaws, and should be assessed for pros and… 
Battle Over Ranked Voting Rages Nationwide (5/2/2023) - Advocates of ranked-choice voting say it helps women and people of color candidates participate in… 
North Dakota Legislature Bans Ranked And Approval Voting (4/5/2023) - North Dakota has passed a bill banning approval voting, which allows voters to choose multiple… 
Rewards Get People To See Truth In Politically Unfavorable Info (3/30/2023) - People don't carefully evaluate links for accuracy and that partisanship may be secondary to the… 
Study: 2020 Election Increased Alcohol Use And Decreased Sleep (3/14/2023) - Many experienced reduced sleep quality, higher stress, negative emotions, and more alcohol during the 2020… 
More Effort Is Needed To Open Election Data Globally (2/8/2023) - In more than 20 countries, voter turnout data is unavailable from official sources or the… Study: Media Can Reduce Polarization By Telling Personal Stories (1/26/2023) - Sharing personal experiences and pairing them with facts reduces political dehumanization and increases political tolerance. 
Field Experiment Shows How Digital Advertising Affects Voter Turnout (1/20/2023) - Differential mobilization effects of even large digital advertising campaigns in presidential elections are likely to… 
Study: 2020 Election Resulted In Increased Anxiety And Depression (1/7/2023) - A review of 2020 Household Pulse Survey data reveals that as an election nears, people… 
Newsom’s ‘Campaign For Democracy’ Has A Democracy Problem (4/26/2023) - The governor has sympathies for changes in governance; he’s deeply familiar with democratic innovation. But… 
More Black Women Run For Office, But A Ceiling Remains (3/14/2023) - Significant hurdles await Rep. Barbara Lee as she hits the campaign trial for a senate… 
What Will It Take To Make Democracy More Representative? (2/8/2023) - Multiple dimensions of identity simultaneously shape pathways to candidacy and representation for all groups seeking… 
A Police Stop Is Enough To Make Someone Less Likely To Vote (2/8/2023) - New research shows how the communities that are most heavily policed are pushed away from...… 
US States See Record Diversity In Government Leadership (2/4/2023) - When the gavel came down to start this year’s session of the Michigan legislature, it… 
118th Congress Hardly Reflects Modern American Religion (1/12/2023) - Religiously speaking, the incoming 118th Congress looks like America — that is, the America of… join the democracy movement with DC!
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