Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - July8

ARIZONA OPEN PRIMARIES

• Brewer cancels Legislature's special session (Mary Jo Pitzl, The Republic/azcentral.com) The action, or lack thereof, means the Open Elections/Open Government initiative -- if it qualifies -- will not have to share space on the November ballot with a competing measure. Designed to draw Arizona's growing ranks of independent voters to the polls during primary elections, the measure would allow candidates to run without party labels. If a candidate decides to list a party, it would have to match his or her voter registration form. The option of not listing party affiliation troubled Brewer and some lawmakers.
• CAPE PAC Reaches Out to Independents in Arizona (PRESS RELEASE PRNewswire) "Unfortunately many of these Independent voters don't realize their rights and that they can still get out and vote for whomever they choose. Our efforts are aimed at helping to spread the word with Independents in Arizona about what a great Senator Jeff Flake will make. We hope to keep a seat in Arizona for the Republican Party, and help Flake become a strong, fiscal Conservative voice for The Grand Canyon State in the years to come," Loyd said.

OHIO REDISTRICTING
Amendment would put Ohio politics back on right path (by Joe Hallett is senior editor at The Dispatch, OPINION Columbus Dispatch) A group of advocates from the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Ohio Council of Churches, Citizen Action, the NAACP and other organizations appear to have gathered enough signatures to put before voters an amendment to change the way congressional and legislative districts are drawn.

CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENTS FEEL THE HEAT
California voters don't like midyear cuts targeting education, Field Poll finds (Associated Press, MERCURY NEWS) Opposition to the so-called "trigger cuts" is greatest among Democrats -- 79 percent -- but 68 percent of independent voters and 65 percent of Republicans also oppose it, according to the poll.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• This year, more Americans celebrate Independence Day as independents (Amy E. Black/The Christian Science Monitor in Alaska Dispatch) This July 4th, as Americans celebrate Independence Day, a different type of independence is growing in size and influence – political independents, those voters who choose not to align with either major party. A recent Pew Research Center poll captured headlines with its report that the divide between Democrats and Republicans is widening into a significant gulf. That's indeed noteworthy, but the data reveal an equally important political development that risks getting overlooked. A record-high 38 percent of Americans now describe themselves as independents.
• Gallop Poll- 50% Of US Hispanics Identify as Independent Voters (Hispanically Speaking News) A majority of U.S. Hispanics identify as political independents (51%) rather than as Democrats (32%) or Republicans (11%). However, once their partisan leanings are taken into account, most Hispanics affiliate with the Democratic Party (52%) rather than the Republican Party (23%). Both sets of numbers shift more decisively in the Democrats’ favor among the roughly half of U.S. Hispanics who are registered to vote.
• Still Waiting For That Declaration Of Independents (by Ken Rudin, NPR/Political junkie with Ken Rudin) This year a different approach was made. This time, an organization provided not a candidate but a mechanism for one to get on the ballot. Americans Elect raised millions of dollars and already attained ballot access in 28 states (on its way to all 50 states plus D.C.), asking supporters to draft a candidate online. The problem? No "big name" came forward to run, and the leading online candidate, GOP dropout Buddy Roemer, failed to get the 10,000 signatures that Americans Elect demanded. The organization and its effort folded in May. While many third parties appear on the November ballots, some states have tougher ballot access laws than others. (Check out Richard Winger's Ballot Access News for the most reliable updates.)
• Independents thrilled with neither Obama, Romney health reform plans (Posted by CNN's Gregory Wallace) Only one in four independent voters approve of Romney's plans and only two in five approve of Obama's plans, according to the ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Tuesday. It is the third major national poll conducted and released since the landmark Supreme Court ruling on Obama's law last Thursday.
• Half of Hispanic voters identify as independent rather than partisan (Posted by Kate Riley, Seattle Times) About 51 percent of Hispanic voters identified themselves as political independents in a Gallup poll released Monday. Meanwhile, about 32 percent identified themselves as Democrats and only 11 percent as Republicans.  NOTE: SEE GALLUP ABOVE
• Half of U.S. Hispanics Identify as Political Independents - But more than half identify as or lean Democratic (by Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup.com) PRINCETON, NJ -- A majority of U.S. Hispanics identify as political independents (51%) rather than as Democrats (32%) or Republicans (11%). However, once their partisan leanings are taken into account, most Hispanics affiliate with the Democratic Party (52%) rather than the Republican Party (23%). Both sets of numbers shift more decisively in the Democrats' favor among the roughly half of U.S. Hispanics who are registered to vote.
• Independent Voters and The Legacy of 1776 (By Timothy Troutner, IVN) In the midst of Independence Day fireworks, picnics, and barbecues earlier this week, our culture celebrated our political system. Our Founding Fathers made us free, so we celebrate our current system of democracy. The implication is that the system we have now is what the Founders envisioned, and– by corollary– that those who are critical of the system are unpatriotic. The fact is that our current system is not what the men who authored the Declaration of Independence had in mind, and that independent voters are following the true legacy of 1776.

Arizona Supreme Court Reinstates Independent Redistricting Commissioner

ARIZONA REDISTRICTING
In win for Democrats, Arizona redistricting commissioner reinstated (By Cameron Joseph, The Hill) The state supreme court's decision that Brewer did not meet the constitutional requirements for removing a commissioner will reinforce the views held by some in the state that Republicans crossed the line on this issue.

The Arizona Redistricting Wars

ARIZONA REDISTRICTING

• Capitol coven stages a witch hunt (by E. J. Montini, The Arizona Republic) Essentially, Brewer and the behind-the-scenes bigwigs pulling her strings didn't like the way the maps were being redrawn under Mathis. Some Republican Congress members were no longer in "safe" districts. There might have been some actual competition. That could not be tolerated, so Brewer rallied the Republican townsfolk at the Capitol and they brought out the torches and pitchforks.
• Arizona recall vote energizes Democrats (By JERI CLAUSING, Associated Press) Last week's recall election defeat of the Republican legislator who wrote Arizona's tough anti-immigration law and the seating of Democratic mayors in Phoenix and Tucson have given Democrats renewed hope for picking up the state in next year's Senate and presidential elections. Combined, the outcomes underscored the diversity of voters in what many view as a conservative state even though voters here are split nearly in thirds among Republicans, independents and Democrats.
• Russell Pearce recall may indicate new political climate - Some see pushback on conservatives' influence (by Alia Beard Rau, The Arizona Republic) A multipartisan group also is working on what it believes will be a more long-term solution to lopsided primaries. It would abolish party primaries in Arizona, instead allowing all voters to vote on all the candidates. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, would then go on to the general election. The goal is to encourage more independent voters to participate and attract more moderate candidates who appeal to a broader range of voters.

NC Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform Wants Iowa-Style Redistricting

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING

• Letter: Look to Iowa for redistricting reform (Daily Reflector - Greenville NC) The N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform strongly agrees that it is time to change the way North Carolina does redistricting… N.C. House Bill 824, co-sponsored by Rep. Edith Warren, passed the N.C. House by a vote of 88 to 27, with support from Warren and Rep. Marian McLawhorn. H.B. 824 is based upon this Iowa model and crafted to fit North Carolina — both its people and its political culture.
• Ouster of Arizona redistrict chair provokes backlash (by Mary K. Reinhart, The Arizona Republic) "The initiative was designed to prevent exactly what the governor and the Senate seek to accomplish with the removal of the chair," attorney Tim Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest wrote in a filing Thursday on behalf of Dennis Burke, Ann Eschinger and Bart Turner. "It was intended to create a commission beyond the reach of raw political power of the sort exercised in this case."

Arizona Repubs Want Citizen Referendum on Citizen Redistricting

REDISTRICTING
Redistricting backers turn in signatures to overturn new Senate maps (LA Times) Referendum proponents, calling themselves Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting (FAIR), have until Sunday to turn in at least 504,000 signatures needed to get the matter on the November ballot. FAIR is comprised of a group of Republicans who charged that the maps, drawn for the first time by a citizens commission instead of the Legislature, were drawn to favor Democrats. Earlier, the state Supreme Court turned down GOP-backed challenges to state Senate and congressional district maps.

Arizona Independent Redistricting Derailed by Jan Brewer

From Think Progress:

Gov. Jan Brewer Can’t Explain Her Partisan Political Tampering In Arizona’s Redistricting Process
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has been under fire recently for her dramatic political move to interfere with the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission. Annoyed that the commission did not redraw congressional districts to benefit Republicans, Brewer convinced the GOP-controlled state Senate to impeach the commission’s independent chairwoman, Colleen Mathis.

Arizona, New York: Where is the Independent Redistricting?

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING

• New York voters want independent redistricting: Quinnipiac (By Colby Hamilton, WNYC) According to the poll, 48 percent said they wanted a completely independent commission drawing lines, while 28 percent said one with some legislative input was prefered.
• Brewer Takes Aim at Indepedent Redistricting Commission (Posted by Jim Nintzel, Tucson Weekly) Time is also running out for these maps to be completed, since they still need approval from the U.S. Justice Department before the 2012 election season can begin. Does the process start all over, or does the GOP have some sort of maps that they'd like to just thrust onto the IRC for rubber-stamping?

Inclusion of Independents, Latinos at Heart of Arizona Redistricting Fight

ARIZONA REDISTRICTING

• Objectors call for ouster of IRC member (BY HOWARD FISCHER - CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES, Yuma Sun) And Ken Moyes, who is doing work for the possible congressional campaign of state Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, charged that the commissioners created a “Trojan horse” district that they claim is politically competitive but actually tilts Democratic if the voting patterns of independents are considered.
• Arizona Latinos at Center of Redistricting Process (by: Valeria Fernández, New American Media, Truth Out) “The legislative draft map adopted today by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission lacks competitive districts and is a giant step backward, as drawn. Without more competition, extremists will continue to get elected and will discourage Independent voters from having any say in Arizona's future,” said Luis Heredia, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party.

Independent Redistricting in a Partisan World Uphill Battle

REDISTRICTING

• Redistricting now in Salt Lake County Council’s hands (By Jeremiah Stettler, The Salt Lake Tribune) Mayor Peter Corroon, a Democrat, considers the redistricting plans well-crafted. “The nonpartisan commission presented three viable options,” Corroon said, “a true demonstration of working for people not politics.”
• Editorial: Independent redistricting panel up to citizens (Athens GA Banner-Herald) Clearly, then, what it will take to make an independent redistricting commission a reality in Georgia is a broad-based grassroots movement. Even those citizens who favor the party currently in power have an interest -- albeit it might not readily be apparent to them -- in having district lines drawn based on a "communities of interest" standard.
• California's redistricting, by 14 citizens (By Cynthia Dai, LA Times) Predictably, some people aren't happy with our final decisions. Politicians and political parties that no longer have the same safe districts wish we'd drawn different lines. But there are procedures for dissenters to voice their concerns at the ballot box or in the courts.
• Maine Redistricting Dispute Could be Headed for Court (Reported By: A.J. Higgins, Maine Public Broadcasting Network) Republicans and Democrats on a 15-member Reapportionment Commission continued to disagree today on a plan to redraw the political boundaries of the state's 1st and 2nd Congressional districts. Commission Chairman Michael Friedman, the sole politically unaffiliated member from Bangor, ended the stalemate by siding with the Democrats. Now both proposals go to the Legislature--and possibly the Supreme Court for a final ruling.
• Redistricting committee still stuck in partisan rut, so Legislature to decide issue (By Eric Russell, Bangor Daily News) Michael Friedman: “I couldn’t get the donkey and the elephant to move a stitch, even though I tried. But I remain an optimist because whatever happens today, it’s not the end of the road.”
• Editorial: IRC ignoring rural districts (The Daily Courier - Prescot AZ) In this space we have supported efforts to de-politicize the process in hopes of creating more competitive and more representative districts. It should not be so difficult to create districts in which the representative - state or federal - would have to think about balance, both politically and remembering rural concerns. Proof of this disconnect is found in the state Independent Redistricting Commission's public outreach meetings. No members of the IRC attended the commission's meeting in Flagstaff. Not one.
• Pinal congressional, legislative districts need to shrink - Hispanic group favors similar 4th, 7th lines (By HAROLD KITCHING, TriValleyCentral) The Independent Redistricting Commission, mandated by a voter initiative in 2000 to take the redrawing away from politicians, has adopted basic congressional and legislative maps as a starting point, based on equal population and compactness and continuousness.

Helsinki Accords: Pennsylvania one of the worst places in the world for a free election

ARIZONA REDISTRICTING
Arizona ‘Independent’ Redistricting Commission Picks Leftist Progressive Firm to Map Arizona Lines (By Shane Wikfors, Tucson Citizen/Sonoran Alliance - "with a blatantly conservative worldview")

BALLOT ACCESS

• Nader Pissed About Getting Kicked Off 2004 PA Ballot? He’s Not Alone (Philadelphia Weekly/PhillyNow) In fact, back in 2006, Pennsylvania was called one of the worst places – in the world! – to have a free election, according to the Helsinki Accords. Part of that includes the fact that Republicans and Democrats need 2,000 signatures to get on a statewide ballot while independent and thirty-party candidates are required a fable-worthy 67,070.
• Nader letter criticizes Pa. courts for knocking him off ballot in 2004 (Philly.com) On Monday, Nader publicly released a letter he sent last week to Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille in which he suggested that Pennsylvania courts have undermined democracy by making it very difficult for third-party candidates to gain ballot access. Nader told Castille it is "never too late" to change a bad decision, and warned him that voters "no doubt will take a keen interest" in the case if Castille decides to stand for retention election in 2013.

2012
Top Republican candidates are changing their tone - Presidential hopefuls Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman Jr. are tempering their criticism of President Obama — a strategy political experts say is intended to reach voters beyond the GOP base. (By Seema Mehta and Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times)

Congressional Shift in Virginia

As the results of the 2010 census lead to redistricting in Virgina, we'll find that congressional power will start to teeter towards the northern Virginia.

RACE, VOTING AND REDISTRICTING

• Will Voters Vote for Another Bad Black President? (Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Huffington Post) The 2006 Yale study also found that white Republicans were 25 percentage points more likely to cross over and vote for a Democratic senatorial candidate against a black Republican foe. The study also found that in the near twenty year stretch from 1982 to 2000, when the GOP candidate was black, the greater majority of white independent voters backed the white candidate. This appeared to change in the November 2010 mid-term elections. Black GOP congressional candidates Allen West in Florida and Tim Scott in South Carolina got a majority of white votes and easily beat their Democratic opponents. But West and Scott won in lockdown GOP districts, and against weak, underfunded, Democratic opponents. Their wins were regional wins with absolutely no national implications.

• Redistricting likely to shift congressional power to Northern Virginia (By Ben Pershing, Washington Post) Racial demographics are also a factor in mapmaking. Rep. Robert C. Scott’s (D) 3rd District, which snakes from Richmond down to Norfolk, is drawn as a “majority-minority” seat. While the district needs to add 64,000 people, it is also required by the Voting Rights Act to retain an African American majority if current demographics permit.

Arizona Indie's Making A Push

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independent Voters Are On the Move. Two-Party System BEWARE -- Tunisia and Egypt Can Happen Here! (By William J. Kelleher, Ph.D., opednews.com) Independents are organizing. That is not easy for them to do. It's not in their nature. But on February 12, 2011, in New York City, the momentum began picking up speed. That is when some 500 independent activists from all around the country converged on the campus of NYU to share notes and experiences, and to piece together some answers to the questions about who is repressing us, and how they are doing it. The event was hosted by Independentvoting.org.

ARIZONA

• Independents now outnumber Democrats in Arizona -Parties, candidates will have to contend with elusive voters more than ever (By Joanna Dodder Nellans, The Daily Courier) The independent numbers have been on an increasing curve ever since the state's voters approved moving to a quasi-open primary in 1998. That allowed independents to choose a party ballot to vote on. Republicans tend to oppose the open primary more than Democrats. Statewide, Republicans have talked about trying to opt out of the open primary through the court system like the Libertarians did.
• Redistricting critical to bring balance to the Legislature (by David Lujan, former House minority leader, ARIZONA REPUBLIC/My Turn) The candidates from whichever party dominates voter registration in these "non-competitive" districts are the ones who win, and often the only way they can win is by playing to the extremes in their party.
• State government mired in tired politics, policies (Arizona Republic) Low-turnout primaries and uncompetitive districts have decimated the political middle at the Legislature. Yet Arizonans clearly want practical solutions, not ideological purity. The ranks of independent voters have grown so rapidly that they now outnumber Democrats and are gaining on Republicans. The solution could be right next door. In June, California voters decided to switch to "open primaries," in which candidates compete regardless of party. The top two vote-getters then go head to head.

NEW YORK

• Tom Golisano: Reform The Electoral College (BY CELESTE KATZ, NY Daily News/Daily Politics) Tom Golisano, a three-time candidate for governor, is now focusing his attention (and money) on reforming the system of awarding electoral votes in presidential elections.
• Destroying the Electoral College System (By Azi Paybarah, WNYC/The Empire) Tom Golisano aims at the electoral college, something people like Hillary Clinton once embraced.
• Tom Golisano to help effort to end Electoral College (Democrat & Chronicle) In an interview with Gannett's Albany bureau on Monday, Golisano said his role in the national push would be to meet with legislative leaders and governors across the country. The measure has already passed six states and is being actively considered in dozens of others.
• Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos are getting weaselly about redistricting (EDITORIAL NY Daily News) And while 138 legislators signed Koch's pledge, the two leading proposals in the Legislature have garnered only 41 and 15 co-sponsors. Clearly, a huge bloc still hates the idea of giving up redistricting power. They like picking their voters, instead of the other way around.

WISCONSIN

• Poll: Voters Oppose Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in Union Standoff (By ROBERT SCHLESINGER, US News and World Report) Independent voters think state workers should be able to keep their collective bargaining rights if they agree to the cuts Walker wants, by a margin of 76-19; even Republicans are closely split, with 49 percent thinking the workers should keep their rights and 47 percent agreeing with Walker’s hard line

SOUTH DAKOTA

• Pierre Report: Cross-Over Day Looms In Pierre (BY SEN. JEAN HUNHOFF, EXCERPT Yankton Press & Dakotan - SD) SB175 proposed independent voters in primary election.