Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

"No Party Preference" Fastest-Growing California Electorate Segment


INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Independent candidates sparse in California despite voter gains (By the Associated Press, The Reporter Vacaville CA) Voters who declare "no party preference" have been the fastest-growing segment of the California electorate and this year hit 21 percent of its 18.2 million registered voters. That is just 8 percentage points behind those registering as Republicans, who now account for less than 30 percent.

OPEN PRIMARIES
  • In 2014, All Initiatives Should Be on June Ballot (By Joe Mathews, NBC San Diego blog) Because the real general election in California is now in June, not November. This change in the general election was part of the establishment of the top-two primary, but few have remarked on this reality because of all the confusion about the top two.
  • Open primary defeat not just about money (Yuma Sun) It is a system that puts emphasis on candidate competence, not party politics. Winners may be from the same party or separate parties. It doesn't matter because the goal is to get the best office holders, not the best person from each party. It is essentially a nonpartisan form of election, and that is what makes it attractive to supporters who want to rid the election process of the current bitter partisan rivalries between parties.

1 comment:

richardwinger said...

In the last two California registration tallies, independent voters declined as a share of the total. Your headline is not true. The fastest growing group in the last two tallies is the Libertarian Party, which gained 20% this year in California and nationally.