Jackie Salit, President – IndependentVoting.org, issued the following statement on the passage of Prop 14:
“Yesterday, California voters decisively passed Proposition 14, which creates a nonpartisan primary system across the state. Though the political parties – major and minor – opposed the measure, the voters defied the partisan establishment and gave Prop 14 54% of the vote. This is the biggest margin for a political reform initiative in California in over a dozen years. And it means the state’s 3.4 million independents can participate in every round of voting. Congratulations California! Now it’s New York City’s turn. We’re saddled with a closed primary system that locks out nearly one million independent voters. The message of California is that it’s time to put political calculus aside, to put nonpartisans on the ballot, and to let the voters decide what kind of electoral system they want to have.”Jackie Salit is the President of IndependentVoting.org, a national association of independent voters with organization in 40 states. In addition, she ran Mike Bloomberg’s ’01, ’05 and ’09 mayoral campaigns on the Independence Party line. Press contact: Sarah Lyons, 212-962-1824
INDEPENDENT VOTERS
- New Registration Numbers from New York and Nevada (Independent Political Report)
- FUSION VOTING AND INDEPENDENT POLITICS (by Damon Eris, CAIVN.org) New York State is well known for its fusion voting system, in which the endorsements of minor parties are often actively sought by candidates for public office. In 2009, when Independent Michael Bloomberg was elected mayor of New York City, it was the votes he received on the Independence Party's ballot line that provided him with his margin of victory over Democrat Bill Thompson.
- Calif. Voting Change Could Signal Big Political Shift (By JESSE McKINLEY, NY Times) “There is now a new political force in California,” said Royce D’Orazio, a stand-up comic who works as the Los Angeles chapter organizer for the group independentvoice.org, who spoke at the governor’s side on Wednesday. “To all our brothers and sisters in states across this country, help is on the way.”
- Assessing the effects of California's Proposition 14 (Washington Post/The Fix) The passage of Proposition 14, however, may be the vote with the longest-term impact on Golden State politics.
- Editorial: Those who voted sent a message (Sac Bee) Supporters of Proposition 14, including The Bee's editorial board, hope it will give moderates and independent thinkers more – but not complete – clout.
- Good News for Independents: California Open Primary Proposition 14 Passes With 54% (POSTED BY NANCY HANKS, EXCERPT The Moderate Voice) NOTE: This article was run as the feature article at the top of the blog yesterday.
- Bad News for Independents: California Open Primary Passes With 54% (POSTED BY NICK RIVERA, The Moderate Voice)
- Ragin'? (— By Kevin Drum, Mother Jones) I haven't seen any polls suggesting that Prop 14 won because mobs of frenzied moderates took to the streets. It won because, of the whopping 20% of California's registered voters that cared enough one way or the other to cast a ballot, a whopping 300,000 more liked the idea than didn't. That doesn't sound especially angry to me.
- Thomas Elias: Voters show they're serious about reform (Press Telegram - Long Beach CA)
- California voters choose to get rid of party primaries with passage of Prop 14 (By Aaron Blake, Washington Post)
- South Carolina Restriction on Fusion Backfires on Democratic Party (Ballot Access News)
- Questions After Political Unknown Wins (By ROBBIE BROWN, NY Times)
- New life for nonpartisan elections in NYC (By GREG DAVID, Crain's New York) The mayor is sure to start beating the drum loudly again because a vote this November, with high turnaround for statewide and congressional seats, will bring out those centrist voters. If ever there was a time to empower the majority of voters in New York, this is it.
- Charter Panel Eyes Advocate (By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal)
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