Pennsylvania's Independent Voters Want Open Primaries

PENNSYLVANIA INDEPENDENTS

• INDEPENDENT VOTERS SHUT OUT IN PENNSYLVANIA - The Republicans and Democrats maintain control by keeping nonaffiliated voters and candidates away (Philadelphia Magazine/The Philly Post) As I walked into the polling place, I kept my head down and my registration status to myself. A couple of years ago an older Democratic party volunteer outside of the Church berated me for “throwing away my vote” by not registering with a party. Truthfully, I don’t believe in either party enough to affiliate myself. But I did not throw away my votes. (I still show up to vote on the ballot issues—just one this time.) My vote was taken from me on this day by a corrupt and antiquated state law. In the vast majority of states, Independent or nonpartisan voters are able to vote for candidates in a primary election. The voting procedures vary, but the result is the same—no one is denied his or her vote.
• Contact Independent Pennsylvanians for the campaign for open primaries
• Former Mayor John Street Considering Independent Candidacy in Philadelphia (by Darcy G. Richardson, Uncovered Politics) If the former mayor decides to enter the race as an independent, he would undoubtedly be the strongest independent or third-party candidate to run for mayor in the City of Brotherly Love since 1975 when attorney Charles W. Bowser — one of Philadelphia’s most respected civic leaders and the city’s first African-American Deputy Mayor — garnered 134,334 votes on the Philadelphia Party ticket while trying to unseat the late Frank L. Rizzo.