On the same topic, The Hankster also received this from Arthur DeFazio
I and thousands of other Independent Arizona voters need your help. I have just been informed that individuals who are registered as Independents in the State of Arizona (such as myself) will NOT be permitted to vote in the upcoming presidential primary. Our current governor, Democrat Janet Napolitano, apparently made this decision back when she was the (elected) Arizona Attorney General. However, no one (including myself) seems to have really been aware of this until recently. This is significant, since the number of Independent voters has nearly doubled in recent years. Currently, there are 755,000 independent voters registered in Arizona, while the Democrats have 855,000 registered voters and the Republicans have just over one million registered voters.
You may find information on this situation in the Tucson newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star
Arizona has a direct primary election law (as required by the Arizona Constitution) that allows independents to “vote in the primary election of any one of the political parties that is qualified for the ballot.” The Constitution (Article 7, Section 10) refers specifically to elections “for all elective State, county, and city offices, including candidates for United States Senator and for Representative in Congress.” However, the office of President is not mentioned. For this reason, then Attorney General Napolitano decided in 1999 that the presidential primary election was specifically excluded from the provisions of Arizona’s “Open Primary” law. The text of her decision may be found here.
I don’t believe it is fair to force Independents in one particular state of the Union to choose between either maintaining their Independent status or being excluded from one of the most important presidential primaries in the history of our nation.
Perhaps posting this information in your blog will help to get the word out about this terrible act of discrimination.
Sincerely,
Arthur DeFazio
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