KRESKY and SALIT: Obama 'efficient administration of elections' not sufficient for democracy

Obama Electoral Commission Omission: Our Voting System Needs Real Reform

by Harry Kresky, Jacqueline Salit Sep 2, 2013 4:45 AM EDT 

at The Daily Beast 

We all want voting to be more efficient and less time consuming. But these upgrades won’t change what our electoral system produces—a government paralyzed by partisan gridlock.

Our democracy is in disrepair.  The Supreme Court recently crippled the pre-clearance remedy of the Voting Rights Act.  Efforts are underway in a number of states, north and south, to limit voting by imposing stringent identification standards.  The 40 percent of Americans who are independents are barred from participating in primary elections in most states, unless one of the major parties invites them.  Our rigged system of redistricting is manifestly partisan.  There is unprecedented gridlock in Washington and alarming levels of corruption in State legislatures.

Alex Wong/Getty

This sorry state of affairs has not gone entirely unnoticed.  Recently, President Obama appointed a Presidential Commission on Election Administration, in response to breakdown and conflict in the electoral arena.  Its mandate is to “promote the efficient administration of elections,” an understatement of the problem if there ever was one.... READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Significant Victory for Open Primaries and Voting Rights in South Carolina for Independents and African American Voters

Independents Are Growing in Number and Stature

By John Opdycke on 08/27/2013 in INV

On steps of the Donald S. Russell Federal courthouse in Spartanburg, SC (left to right): Jackie Salit, President of IndependentVoting.org; South Carolina Independence Party chair Wayne Griffin; local counsel Fletcher Smith, and IndependentVoting.org general counsel Harry Kresky.

...Last Wednesday, IndependentVoting.org president Jackie Salit and general counsel Harry Kresky traveled to South Carolina to defend open primaries from the Greenville County Republican Party, which has been attempting to force the state to enact closed primaries since 2010. After hearing arguments from both sides, Federal Judge Mary Lewis sided with the defendants and dismissed the case – a significant victory for open primaries advocates.

IndependentVoting.org issued a press release in the wake of the ruling, stating: “Political crossfire inside the Republican Party gave rise to this lawsuit but African American and independent voters would have been the big losers if the primaries had been closed as a result.”...

Read Opdycke's full article here

Read more about IndependentVoting.org's campaign for open primaries here

Political Ethics, Closed Primaries, Transparency: Include Independents!

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Number of independent voters skyrockets (October 18, 2012, By: Mark Wachtler, Examiner.com) One group promising that those days are over is the newly formed Independent Voters Association. Based out of Chicago, but slowly expanding nationally, the IVA pledges to be that ready-made army of political precinct workers and volunteers for independent and third party candidates.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Richard Davis: One-party rule naturally leads to ethics abuses (By Richard Davis, For the Deseret News) This arrogance also is demonstrated in legislative decisions made in closed legislative party caucuses, ever stricter limits on the ability to put citizen-based initiatives on the ballot and closed primaries that exclude most voters.
• Kansas Democrats vote to limit primaries - Closes primaries to registered Democrats (Topeka Capital Journal) The move reverses the party’s prior primary-ballot rule that allowed unaffiliated voters to cast ballots to pick Democratic candidates to advance to the general election.
• Teplitz wants caucus for more transparency in Pa. (By CHRISTINA KAUFFMAN, York Dispatch.com) Initiatives include lobbying reform, suspension of pay for the governor and legislators if they don't pass a timely budget and opening the state's closed primary to independent voters.
• Save money, make the system fairer (By Joe Ferraro, Philadelphia Inquirer) Plan No. 3: Go to an open primary system. That means anyone, including independents, can vote for anyone they want in the primary, regardless of a candidate's party. This idea may not save money, but it would make the system fairer. And, if adopted, it would likely negate Plans Nos. 1 and 2. The county couldn't close polling places because there would likely be more voters, and the political parties couldn't be charged for their exclusive primary election process.
• American political system is rotten to the core (By Jeff McLean, Seacoastonline.com) In addition, implementing term limits and reducing the number of closed primary states would serve to combat the current role of gerrymandering and money in politics.
• Guest column: Proposed Democratic election reforms don't go far enough (By Keith Allard, Michigan Live) • End taxpayer-paid primaries. If the two parties wish to play games with the system they have created, the taxpayers should not be liable for the expensive cost of these elections. Allow parties to pay for their own selection process, whether it is a caucus or closed primary.

Historic Bond Ties African-Americans and Independents Together

The Historic Bond that Ties African-Americans and Independents Together
By Bob Friedman

Last week I joined Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network on the march from Selma to Montgomery. I am one of the 40% of Americans who are independent of both of the major parties. Back in the days of Ross Perot, the media called guys like me "angry white men."


Along the route, I spoke with many people and brought greetings from Dr. Lenora Fulani, the country’s leading African American independent with whom I’ve worked closely and from IndependentVoting.org, the country’s largest organization of independent voters of which I’m a part.

I have been an independent activist concerned with voters’ rights for many years. In Birmingham, as chair of the Petitioners Alliance, I helped lead the first citywide Initiative & Referendum movement. With Senator Hank Sanders, one of the sponsors of this historic march, I wrote legislation to open access to the Alabama ballot. And with Rep. Demetrius Newton, I designed legislation for proportional democratic selection of presidential electors. As independents, we fight for reforms that not only protect the right to vote. They increase the power of the vote.

For this march, I was proud to have fellow independents Mark Bodenhausen and Lorna Lindsey join me for the historic bridge crossing in Selma. Lorna had never been to a major demonstration before. We added our voices to the call for an end to voter ID laws that suppress the full participation of all our citizens. Independents have experienced disenfranchisement ourselves. We know that when partisan interests wave a flag about so-called voter fraud in an election year, you can pretty much count on the fact that they’re doing it for partisan reasons, not to protect our democracy.

Partisanship is destroying our democracy and making our government incapable of moving our country forward. I far from alone in this concern. Right now, our Congress has a 97% disapproval rating. Most Americans look at Congress and see how partisan its behavior is and feel angry that our government is not working for them.

We need to broaden participation in our democracy, not narrow it. We need to make sure that no American is turned away from the polls because they don’t have the right ID. And that means photo ID, State ID and political ID. In 26 states, independents are prevented from voting in primaries, not because they don’t have an ID, but because they don’t belong to a party! That’s just wrong.

There is an historic bond that ties African Americans and independents together. That bond is based on our shared belief that our democracy must work for everyone, not just the powerful, not just the parties—but for the people!

Bob Friedman
Birmingham, AL 
205-701-2799

Americans Elect: In states where party affiliation is required for primary participation, independent voters can't vote at all

AMERICANS ELECT
Overcoming Old Obstacles to Democracy in 2012 (Elliot Ackerman, Chief Operating Officer, AmericansElect.org, Huffington Post) Unfortunately, the Electoral College is not the only part of our system for picking a president where some peoples' votes count more than others. In our primary process, voters in states with early primary dates have disproportionate say. By the time voters in states with late primaries head to the polls, the race is often decided. And those voters are the lucky ones. In states where party affiliation is required for primary participation, independent voters can't vote at all.

New York Democrats: Voters Be Damned!

Do catch the editorial in yesterday's New York Daily News Editorial about the anointment by the Queens DP of David Weprin to fill the scandalized-out-of-office Anthony Weiner (guilty of showing too much flesh on Facebook or something...) -- and by the way, when the NY media uses the term "open primary" what they mean is an election where there is a Republican running... Hmmm.... And in other parts South and West, real open primaries are being discussed and implemented!


OPEN PRIMARIES

• Republican or Democrat? You decide (Natchez Democrat) “It is kind of frustrating the way the process is,” Massey said… “I feel like open primaries would be more representative of public opinion,” Massey said.
• La. poised for return of open primaries (Written by Mike Hasten, The Town Talk - Baton Rouge) Walsworth argued "this is complete change. This is going to make total change in what independents do. It throws our entire election this year into the Justice Department," which must approve election law changes for them to go into effect. Under the closed primary system, voters who were independent and those belonging to other organized political parties were banned from voting in Republican primaries. Independents were allowed to vote in Democratic primaries.

VOTING RIGHTS

• Chafee Signs Voter ID Law, Touts Minority Support For Photo Requirement (Ryan J. Reilly, Talking Points Memo) Chafee's announcement came the day that former President Bill Clinton compared the Republican-lead efforts to pass new restrictions on voting to the Jim Crow laws of the past.
• Critics challenge ‘Voter ID’ plan (By GINA SMITH, The State) Called the Voter-ID bill, the measure will require all voters to present a picture ID at the polls, such as a passport, military ID card or a valid S.C. driver’s license. Without a complete birth certificate, Freelon and others like her cannot get an S.C. driver’s license. 

2012

• Entitlement Cuts Divide Democrats (By JONATHAN WEISMAN, Wall Street Journal) Senior White House officials believe a bipartisan deal that cuts spending while ending narrow tax breaks would boost Mr. Obama's standing with independent voters, help his claim to be a "postpartisan" problem solver and buoy his re-election chances.
• GOP leader: Rise in unemployment rate could sink Obama (By Dave Cook, Christian Science Monitor) Mr. Gillespie is referring to a series of focus groups conducted among independent voters in June by Resurgent Republic… The focus groups included 41 independent voters. These independents – 31 of whom voted for Obama – don’t hold the president solely responsible for the economy’s problems, but are skeptical of his leadership and spending policies. They “don’t think he has made things better,” Gillespie said.
• THE UNTRANSFORMATIONAL PRESIDENT (The Daily Beast, in msnbc/PowerWall) Oh, I know the arguments. He has to win back independent voters, and they'll be impressed if he is seen as having orchestrated a deal.

NEW YORK
David Weprin is the bosses' choice -- not the people's -- to replace Anthony Weiner in Congress (EDITORIALS, Daily News) Weprin's father, Saul Weprin, was a product of the Queens machine who rose to be Assembly speaker. When he died in 1994, the party anointed David's brother Mark in a special election.

E.J. Dionne: Attack on Right to Vote is Underway Across the Country

2012
How states are rigging the 2012 election (By E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post/Opinions) An attack on the right to vote is underway across the country through laws designed to make it more difficult to cast a ballot. If this were happening in an emerging democracy, we’d condemn it as election-rigging. But it’s happening here, so there’s barely a whimper… In part because of a surge of voters who had not cast ballots before, the United States elected its first African American president in 2008. Are we now going to witness a subtle return of Jim Crow voting laws?

KENTUCKY
Kentucky gubernatorial campaigns say religion isn't an issue (By Jack Brammer, Lexington Herald Leader/Kentucky.com) Their stances come as former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson apparently is the first person of the Jewish faith in Kentucky to run for the office of lieutenant governor. He is running with Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, who is seeking re-election… Lexington attorney Gatewood Galbraith, who is trying to get enough signatures to run this fall as an independent candidate for governor, said he does not expect religious affiliation of any of the candidates to be an issue in the race.

EDUCATION REFORM
Why American students lag in test scores - Unlike the U.S., high-performing nations have clear, shared standards and pay their teachers well (By Marc Tucker and Jerry Weast, Baltimore Sun) The top-performing countries differentiate their educational spending to give the hardest-to-educate students more resources and support than other students. The U.S. is alone among industrialized countries in providing the most money for the students who have the most advantages.

CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING & THE VOTING RIGHTS STRUGGLE

Redistricting, the next chapter in the voting rights struggle (by Samuel Walton and Michelle Romero, San Fransisco Bay View - National Black Newspaper) Given the systematic inequalities and racism that still exist today – look at the vile rhetoric coming from the Tea Party crowd, for example – it is crucial that people of color get involved in this process. Think about what might happen to our communities if we were to be silenced again. If low and moderate income voters were silenced, politicians could stop funding public education, affordable housing or social services altogether.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 10/23/09

KINSTON NC, NON-PARTISAN ELECTIONS & THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
While the conclusion by the US Justice Department to disallow nonpartisan city elections in Kinston NC, in spite of a 2-1 favorable vote last year by the electorate, is questionable (was it knee-jerk liberalism, exuberant Dem partisanship, or just plain bad judgement???), the fervor with which the right wing press has picked up on this smacks of more anti-Obama, knee-jerk reactionaryism, exuberant Repub partisanship, and just plain right-wing politics:

• Justice concludes black voters need Democratic Party (Ben Conery, Washington Times)
• Big Voting Rights Drama in Small Town (Clarice Feldman, Pajamas Media) 
• The Politicization of Justice: Kinston, North Carolina (Heritage Foundation blog)
• DOJ forces town to put party labels on candidates for racial reasons (Ed Lasky, American Thinker)

MORE NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS

• Why One Democrat Thinks New York Needs a Strong GOP (By DAVID PARKER, Wall Street Journal) Democrats have also used their muscle to fight structural reforms. When Mike Bloomberg (full disclosure: the mayor is a former client) pushed to replace primaries with nonpartisan elections in a 2003 referendum, the Democratic Party pulled out all the stops to defeat the measure.
• U.S. Justice Department OK’s New Arizona Law that Forces Tucson to Use Non-Partisan City Elections (Ballot Access News)

GOV RACES

• Poll: N.J. Independent Daggett at 20 Percent (By Emily Cadei, CQ Politics)

BLOOMBERG 09
The Gay City News endorsement of Thompson in the Mayor's race appears to be purely partisan...

• The Campaign That Has Not Happened (Gay City News Endorsement for Thompson)