Note: Not an official Forward Party Page
Human Centered Democracy
Voting is one of our most fundamental rights as Americans. Our Constitution was written to protect this right, to ensure that everyone’s vote counted the same and that every voter had the equal ability to decide who is elected to lead our Country.
Unfortunately, everyone’s vote doesn’t count the same. Because of the control of our state elections by the two main parties, voters have less and less ability to actually decide who runs our country. The parties have both manipulated voting districts to ensure their party wins the most elections. They have manipulated laws to make it harder for new parties to run candidates. Both the Democrats and Republicans have done everything they can to ensure voters have just two candidates to choose from, one Republican and one Democrat. We have reached a point where the parties matter more than the voters.
As control has shifted to the parties, the candidates they choose have become more extreme. In each party the true believers are the most passionate and the loudest. Candidates have to satisfy the extreme wing of their party before they can win the nomination. And once elected, getting reelected is more dependent on keeping their radicals happy than making voters happy.
Both parties have become defined and limited by the purity tests demanded by the far left and far right. Any attempt to compromise is viewed as capitulation, letting the other side win. The result for our country is partisan gridlock.
Human Centered Democracy. It doesn’t have to be this way. It is possible to make the voters – the humans – matter more than party. The Forward Party supports voting reforms that will give Americans more choices in elections, more confidence that their government works and more say in our future.
Unfortunately, everyone’s vote doesn’t count the same. Because of the control of our state elections by the two main parties, voters have less and less ability to actually decide who runs our country. The parties have both manipulated voting districts to ensure their party wins the most elections. They have manipulated laws to make it harder for new parties to run candidates. Both the Democrats and Republicans have done everything they can to ensure voters have just two candidates to choose from, one Republican and one Democrat. We have reached a point where the parties matter more than the voters.
As control has shifted to the parties, the candidates they choose have become more extreme. In each party the true believers are the most passionate and the loudest. Candidates have to satisfy the extreme wing of their party before they can win the nomination. And once elected, getting reelected is more dependent on keeping their radicals happy than making voters happy.
Both parties have become defined and limited by the purity tests demanded by the far left and far right. Any attempt to compromise is viewed as capitulation, letting the other side win. The result for our country is partisan gridlock.
Human Centered Democracy. It doesn’t have to be this way. It is possible to make the voters – the humans – matter more than party. The Forward Party supports voting reforms that will give Americans more choices in elections, more confidence that their government works and more say in our future.
Voting Reform
Adopt ranked-choice voting systems for all elections...
Nonpartisan Primaries
Adopt nonpartisan primary systems so that more people...
Independent Redistricting Commissions
Voters should be choosing...