Good News for Independents: California Open Primary Proposition 14 Passes With 54%

PROP 14

• Parties talk about lawsuit challenging 'open' primary victory (Sac Bee/Capitol Alert, Posted by Susan Ferriss) Jason Olson, director of Independent Voice, a group that backed that measure, predicted that more decline-to-state voters would turn out for primary elections with the Proposition 14 approach. Independent voters are now about 20 percent of all California's registered voters.
• California Voters Back Election Overhaul (By JESSE McKINLEY, NY Times) Richard Winger, a prominent opponent of the measure, said that “California now has the most restrictive general election ballot access in the nation,” but acknowledged the sour mood of the electorate.
• State Ballot Measures - Statewide Results (California Statewide Primary Election Results, Sec of State) 54.3% yes on 14 with 93% returns in by 4:30am
• California voters approve revolutionary 'open' primary (By Susan Ferriss, Fresno Bee) Disgruntled California voters have blown up their election system by approving Proposition 14, which tosses out the current political party-based primary system in all but presidential races... That revolutionary approach doesn't bother Jason Olson, director of Independent Voice, a group that backed Proposition 14.
• California Voters Pass Top-Two, Defeat Public Funding (Ballot Access News)
• Live blog: Coverage of the California primary election (By Paul Rogers, EXCERPT Mercury News)
• Voters OK open primaries, deny public $ for races (By SAMANTHA YOUNG (AP)
• Voters approve California open primary - Proposition 14 victory changes future elections for congressional, state legislative and statewide offices. Proposition 13, the largely uncontested quake retrofit measure, also wins approval. (By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times)
• Live Blogging the Primaries (By KATE PHILLIPS, EXCERPT NY Times/The Caucus) But be that as it may, it looks like Californians want some type of change, no?
• Maldonado comments on election results (The Californian)
• California voters approve open primary elections (By SAMANTHA YOUNG - from AP article, Forbes)
• Open Primary Measure Passes Amid Voter Disgust - Proponents hope Prop. 14 will temper political rancor (By KATHARINE MIESZKOWSKI, Bay Citizen)

OTHER PRIMARY RESULTS

• Lincoln bucks tide in Arkansas - The incumbent survived a runoff. South Carolina, California, and Nevada also saw big primaries. (By David Espo, Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer) The passage of Proposition 14 reflects voter anger in California and across the nation at a system that critics complained has been dominated by a small coterie of political activists in each of the two major political parties.
• Incumbent Holds Her Senate Seat in Arkansas Race (By JEFF ZELENY and ADAM NAGOURNEY, NY Times)
• US voters celebrate Women's Day (The Daily Maverick - New Zealand) (Some states have open primaries that permit voting across party lines, thereby blurring the kind of statement partisan voters made in these primaries.
• In today's votes, the center's under fire (By John P. Avlon, CNN Contributor) - from yesterday morning: Closed partisan primaries are a paradise for party activists, but they can lead to a vicious hangover the morning after, as parties begin to wake up to the reality that principled centrists generally have a better chance to win a general election than those from the ideological extremes.

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• When one can't vote, it gets personal! (posted by Laiza Garcia, The Hankster)  NOTE: Please welcome IP youth activist Laiza Garcia. Laiza is now reporting for The Hankster.