by Jason Olson
Even before the first vote is counted, Tuesday’s Statewide
Primary Election had a big winner:
California’s independent voters. For
the first time in over a decade, the votes of the state’s 3.6 million
independent voters (now called “No Party Preference”) actually mattered in State
Legislative and Congressional elections.
The political impact on the state’s elections has been dramatic.
Independent voters are not unified by an ideological agenda.
Polling done by the Public Policy
Institute of California continues to show that about 40% of independents
describe themselves as moderates, 30% as liberals, and 30% as conservatives. Independent voters are unified around their
views on broken government – 89% of independents trust the government to do
what is right “only sometimes” or “never” according to a recent CNN Poll. Independents see the political process as
being focused primarily on what is best for the political parties rather than
what is best for the people.
Tuesday’s primary marks the debut of the Top Two Open
Primary, which transformed California’s elections into non-partisan affairs
much like our local elections. All the
candidates run on the same ballot. All
the voters cast their vote for the candidate of their choice – regardless of
party. The top two vote getters will then
go on to a runoff style election in November.
It also marks the debut of districts drawn by an independent citizens commission
(which included independent voters) rather than a gerrymandered map prepared by
politicians in the State Legislature. Independent
voters and IndependentVoice.Org overwhelmingly supported the passage of these reforms
at the ballot in 2008 and 2010. Taken
together, these reforms have blown open a political system that was once very
hostile to the state’s independent voters.
The reaction of California’s political players was the first
major impact of these changes. Deprived of a guaranteed re-election based on
controlled party primaries and gerrymandered districts, a number of incumbent
politicians decided to retire rather than compete in an open process. It was exactly that open process that
attracted many candidates who could not have won a partisan primary – including
for the first time independent candidates without a party affiliation. Having a new field of candidates and 3.6
million independent voters involved in the process stimulated new kinds of
dialogue. No longer focused on who was
the most loyal Republican or Democrat, primary debates became a place to
actually talk about a broad range of issues with a large array of viewpoints.
The second major impact was the emergence of an organized
“third force” of independents in California’s State Legislative and Congressional
elections. My organization,
IndependentVoice.Org, went through an endorsement process aimed at educating
candidates about the concerns independent voters have about partisanship and
their desire to reform the political process.
Through that process we endorsed three Congressional Candidates who
embraced that independent reform agenda: Republican Abel Maldonado, Democrat
Stacey Lawson, and independent Linda Parks.
The Independent Voter Network, led by former legislator Steve Peace and one
of our partners in passing the Top Two Open Primary, sent out 500,000 mailers
to independent voters informing them of their right to participate in Tuesday’s
election and ran a virtual primary campaign.
They also held a press conference highlighting independent candidates
around the state – several of whom may actually “win” their election and get
into the second round of voting. We even
witnessed the launch of the first “Super PAC” for independent candidates –
icPurple.Org, led by Gateway CEO Ted Waitt – specifically airing television
commercials with a message about the necessity of non-partisan leadership. While each of these organizations has a
different focus, this third force of independents pushed an agenda of
challenging partisanship and promoting reforms that make the political process
more democratic and inclusive.
There are still challenges ahead for California. Too many independents are still unaware that
they can now participate in the primary.
Many of the established political players are still resistant to
speaking to independent voters on the issues that most concern them –
partisanship and broken government. The
organized independent forces are still small in number and
under-resourced.
Whatever those challenges, California’s primary election has
proven that when partisan control is removed and independent voters are
included, new possibilities can emerge.
Independent voters 1, Political Partisans 0.
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Jason
Olson is the Director of IndependentVoice.Org which represents
California's 3.6 million independent voters and worked to successfully
pass the Top Two Open Primary (Prop 14) and Redistricting Reform (Props
11 and 20).
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