Arizona Open Elections-Open Government Campaign Set for Open Primaries Ballot Initiative

Breaking news: Arizona Open Elections-Open Government campaign pulls 280,000 signatures for open primary ballot initiative!

How open primaries would affect elections in Arizona (by David R. Berman, Arizona Republic) With registered independent voters in Arizona already outnumbering registered Democrats and soon to surpass the roster of registered Republicans, have political-party primaries outlived their usefulness? And is it time for Arizona to begin electing local, statewide and federal officeholders in a nonpartisan manner to reflect the more moderate views of the general population?
Breaking Good News: Open Elections-Open Government campaign surpasses minimum number of signatures to qualify! (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, Tucson Citizen/Hispanic Politico) With the signatures of over 280,000 Arizona voters in hand, leaders of a ballot initiative campaign that would reform Arizona’s election process by opening it up to more voters and more candidates today announced they have surpassed the minimum number of signatures required to place the measure on the November ballot.
Voter registration up for Tuesday's primary (By John Howard, Capitol Weekly) Nearly three out of four eligible voters in California have registered to cast ballots in Tuesday’s election, and fully a fifth of the electorate has declined to state a party preference, according to the state’s elections officer. About 1.4 million more Californians are registered now than in February 2008, the year of the last presidential primary election.
California's minor parties facing extinction under new voting system (By Josh Richman, Contra Costa Times) Election-reform advocate Steven Hill, co-founder of the nonprofit FairVote, said losing minor parties would result in an ever-narrowing political discourse. "Minor parties tend to be the laboratories for new ideas. They bring issues and ideas into the political discussion that the major parties often ignore," he said. "That's the first thing you're going to lose, and it's a fairly big loss.