Kentucky Senate Panel: Independents Should Vote in Primary Elections

Big news from Kentucky - SB 41, introduced by state Sen. Jimmy Higdon, would allow independents to vote in Kentucky primaries. And Ken Bingenheimer reports on No Labels' call with former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado about California's new open primary law brought forth by Proposition 14.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Senate panel approves bill to let independents vote in primary elections (Bluegrass Politics) Registered independents would be allowed to vote in a party’s primary election under a bill the Senate State and Local Government approved Wednesday.
• Electoral reform is No Labels target (Ken Bingenheimer, National Common Ground Examiner
• Business aficionados ponder 'fixes' to calif (Written by Todd. R Brown, The Business Journal - Fresno) Among the changes that California forward seeks, some are already done. Redistricting, and open primaries are going forward, and the groups hopes to see term limits raised to 12 years. Further out, the group is considering pushing for a "unicameral legislature", rather than a separate senate and assembly, with 120 districts
• After John Doolittle, the Placer GOP can’t quite get it together (By Jason Probst, Sacramento News Review) The race is even more unpredictable for Republicans because of the state’s newly passed open-primary law, which will select the top two vote getters in the primary to contest the May 3 general election. It’s unlikely, but possible in a heavily Republican district like this, for two GOP candidates to face off in the general.
• Elias: GOP might have a bench after all under new system (Thomas D. Elias, Ventura County Star) This, of course, could force some existing members of Congress to seek other offices — like the statewide ones swept this year by Democrats. But the open primary system that's scheduled to debut next year could have even larger implications in those same statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, controller, insurance commissioner and treasurer.

DEMOCRATS

• NEWS ANALYSIS, WHY OBAMA CHOSE CHARLOTTE FOR 2012 (by CASH MICHAELS, The Wilmington Journal) It is the only Southern state that offered Barack Obama One Stop/Early Voting and Same Day Registration, enabling his 2008 presidential campaign not only to attract a treasure trove of new voters for both the Democratic primary and general election that year, but bank those ballots to eek out a razor slim 14,000-vote victory over Republican rival John McCain.

REPUBLICANS

• NC election reform groups want more voter choices (WRAL Raleigh Durham Fayetteville) Republican State Rep. Stephen LaRoque of Lenoir County said Tuesday he plans to introduce legislation reducing the number of signatures an independent candidate or a third party would have to collect to appear on Election Day ballots.

NEW YORK

• New York Daily News Says Thomas Golisano is a Major Backer of the National Popular Vote Plan (Ballot Access News)

INTERNATIONAL

• U.S. Interests in Peril as Youth Rebel, Leaders Quit in Mideast (By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Glen Carey and Henry Meyer, Bloomberg Businessweek) A challenge for U.S. policy as popular protests sweep the Middle East and North Africa is how to back away from leaders who have lost their people’s trust without appearing to be a fair-weather ally or encouraging instability or the rise of anti-American leaders in their place.