Statement by Jackie Salit, President & Harry Kresky, Legal Counsel
IndependentVoting.Org
The decision by the California Supreme Court to reject an attempt to block the implementation of Proposition 14, the open primary, top two initiative passed by voters last June, is a positive and timely development.
The voters made a clear statement in passing Proposition 14 that they wanted to dislodge the supreme power of the parties. Though the state’s third parties—which supported the legal challenge are critics of the two-party system and say they want to give voters more competition elections—in this situation they have sided with the two parties against competition.
We’re glad the court rejected their effort to undo the very sweeping changes that Proposition 14 will bring to the state’s electoral process and to the 3.5 million independent voters who have gained full equality under the law.
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Jackie Salit is president of IndpendentVoting.org, a national association of independents with organization in 40 states. Harry Kresky is the country’s foremost legal advocate of independent voters and general counsel for IndependentVoting.org.
CONTACT: Sarah Lyons / 212-962-1824
3 comments:
Back in 1992, Lenora Fulani sued Florida over the fact that voters were not permitted to write-in her in for president. Now the same group of people who worked so hard on expanding the right to vote in 1988 and 1992, are applauding a measure that does not permit write-in votes to be counted, and applauding a system which denies independent candidates the right to have "independent" as a label on the ballot.
Why would voters need a write-in option now that the parties cannot dominate the process?
San Diego voters needed a write-in option in 2004, when the non-partisan first round put two Republican politicians into the run-off, and then it was found out that they were both corrupt. The voters then cast write-in votes for Donna Frye, a Democratic member of the city council who had not run in the first round, and she placed first.
It is always a mistake to tell voters that they are not free to vote for anyone they wish.
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