How Independents Used Their Votes on November 2

The Jim Crow of Bipartisan Rule (Dr. Omar Ali, The Public Professor blog) "Voting for candidates who offer a challenge to the rules of the game is a way of dealing a blow to the Jim Crow of bipartisan rule. It is also a way of building today’s independent movement and helping the nation move toward non-partisan governance. So, please, keep the movement and the long-term in mind when you cast your ballot this Tuesday."


Will Election Day be independents’ day? (By Susan Frick Carlman, Naperville IL Sun Times) "Four out of 10 voters would check “neither of the above” if asked to choose between Democratic and Republican loyalties, according to polls taken by CNN, ABC News, the Wall Street Journal and others. “It’s hovered around 40 percent since 2006, so it’s not spiked dramatically in the last year, but it hasn’t gone down,” said John Opdycke, an Evanston IL native and chief of staff at New York-based Independentvoting.org, the online presence of the Committee for a Unified Independent Party...“In general, independents are dissatisfied with partisan politics, and the way in which partisans have turned American civic and political life into a bloodsport,” he said. “And they express that dissatisfaction on Election Day, typically by voting against the party in power.”

Letter to the Editor/Staten Island Advance
By SARAH LYONS
ST. GEORGE

I applaud Borough President Jim Molinaro’s willingness to cross party lines and endorse Andrew Cuomo for governor.

Cuomo, of course, is not just running as a Democrat. He’s also on The Independence Party line. The more votes Cuomo receives on Column "C," the more pressure he’ll feel to govern in a non-partisan fashion.

That’s important because we’ve all seen the negative effects of party politics. Indeed, both major parties derive much of their power from the fact that voters have no other place to go. That’s why the independent movement, with its focus on structural political reform and opening up the process, remains so important and so relevant.

There’s another good choice in the governor’s race this year. It’s helping the fledgling Freedom Party win ballot status with 50,000 votes.

Launched by City Councilman Charles Barron as a challenge to the Democratic Party’s monopoly of the black and Latino vote, it’s an independent effort with the potential to bring much needed political options to a growing segment of New York City’s population.

Staten Island has vibrant minor parties in Independence, Conservative and Working Families. A minor party highlighting the interests of the African-American and Latino communities would be a welcome addition to the mix.

[The writer is chair of the Independence Party of Richmond County.]
Published: Thursday, October 28, 2010, 12:00 PM Updated: Thursday, October 28, 2010, 12:48 PM

Women, Independent Voters Show Biggest Swing From 2008 (FoxNews.com) Independent voters supported Democrats 51 percent of the time compared to 43 percent of the time for Republicans in 2008. But in 2010, the Democrats garnered only 39 percent of the independent vote compared to 55 percent for the GOP.