Federal judge rejects councilwoman's challenge to NJ primary system

Federal judge rejects Morristown councilwoman’s challenge to New Jersey primary system

August 19, 2014 by Kevin Coughlin 

 

A federal judge has upheld New Jersey’s closed primary system, rejecting a legal challenge from Morristown Council President Rebecca Feldman and others who contended the taxpayer-funded primaries unfairly exclude nearly half the state’s voters, who are unaffiliated...

Community Activist Tia Williams talking to voters in Jersey City

“The Supreme Court has drawn an important distinction between casting a ballot in a general election, which implies the ‘fundamental’ right to vote, and nominating a candidate for general election, which does not,” wrote Judge Chesler, granting New Jersey Secretary of State Kim Guadagno’s motion to dismiss the case.



Harry Kresky, one of the lawyers representing Feldman and eight other plaintiffs, said they are weighing an appeal.

Harry Kresky, Councel for independentvoting.org

“We think the Court misunderstood our argument. The judge addressed this as a case of Independents wanting to participate in party politics. That’s not what this case is about. It’s about whether the state of New Jersey can fund and administer a system that’s for the parties and not for anyone else,” said Kresky, adding he was surprised that no oral arguments were heard in the case.

Morristown NJ Council President Rebecca Feldman
Photo by Kevin Coughlin

“This is only the first round,” said Feldman, an Independent on the town council, in a statement. “The other plaintiffs and I never thought it would be easy to get beyond the hold the major parties have on our election system.”







Go to independenvoting.org for more information about the national movement for a fair and open -- and nonpartisan -- primary election system.

A tip -- you can read more from Harry Kresky about our current constitutional crisis here.

- NH

Cathy Stewart and Harry Kresky: Independent Voices on Arizona Failed Grassroots Effort to Win Top Two Nonpartisan Elections

NYC Independence Party chief organizer Cathy Stewart asks independent attorney Harry Kresky about the recent defeat of the Arizona initiative to secure nonpartisan elections. The parties don't favor non-partisan structural reform. Hmmm... Kresky talks about the fundamentals:

But the Supreme Court action does not mean the "Open Government/Open Elections'' initiative actually will be on the November ballot.

Independents Support Arizona Top-Two Open Primary Initiative

By Chad Peace | 10/15/2012 By Chad Peace | 10/15/2012 http://ivn.us/2012/10/15/independents-support-arizona-top-two-open-primary-initiative/
IndependentVoting.org, a national strategy, communications, and organizing center working to connect and empower the 40% of Americans who identify themselves as independents, has begun conducting a survey to educate and activate Arizona voters about Proposition 121, the Top-Two Open Primary Initiative.

Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - August 29

It's not too late: What should Obama do to appeal to independents? Step out in favor of structural political reform!

INDEPENDENTS RISING
Must-Reads for the Rabble-Rouser (By Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair/Just My Type) Jacqueline Salit’s Independents Rising (Palgrave Macmillan) surveys the political impact of the grassroots groups stirring up trouble on both sides of the mainstream.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independent voters are a growing part of Arizona's electorate (by Rebekah L. Sanders, The Republic) From June to the most recent count on Aug. 14, voters opting for no party preference ticked up 1.5 percent, or 18,757, to nearly match Republicans' 1.25 million registered voters, according to figures from Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett's office. Democratic and Republican registrations grew by less than 1 percent. Jacqueline Salit, president of the independent-voter advocacy group IndependentVoting.org, said more voters are turning away from the two major parties because they don't feel their views are represented… She champions the Open Elections/Open Government initiative in Arizona as a way to get more independent voters, who historically have low primary-election turnout, to get more involved. [ALSO SEE OPEN PRIMARIES BELOW]
• Opinion: Obama’s best argument for reelection (By Lanny J. Davis, The Hill) Obama would enhance his chances to win the crucial undecided independent vote by endorsing the bipartisan recommendations of his own Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Commission — increasing revenues through closing tax loopholes, cutting spending and undertaking entitlement reform.
• Romney readies final stage of campaign (By Christian Heinze, The Hill) Disgruntled, undecided independents voters are ripe for the picking, yet many haven’t made up their minds. According to the TPM aggregate, Romney is leading Obama among independents, 43 percent to 41, but he has the chance to go much higher, thanks to Obama’s low approval rating with the group.
• Floridians voted for Obama in 2008, will again in 2012 (By Dava Castillo, AllVoices) In 2008 the “no party affiliation” (NPA) outnumbered the Independents, with NPA at 1,957,049 and Independents at 272,313, which is quite a spread according to the state of Florida voter profile. While some are saying focus on the Independents, if the numbers resemble 2008 the NPA is where the undecided voters are located. This, however, is an unwieldy demographic, and Independent/no party affiliation voters swing between parties depending on which candidates they think will serve their interests. But they also don’t vote as often as people committed to a party, which is all the more reason for the Democrats to work at the grassroots level in key counties to make sure people are registered and can get to the voting booth in November.

OPEN PRIMARIES [ARIZONA]

• Open-primary suit headed for hearing (by Mary Jo Pitzl, The Republic) But in the complaint to be heard Thursday afternoon, attorneys for the Open Elections committee argue the staffers validating voter signatures made errors, such as disqualifying people for not being registered voters when they actually are. They also fault the formula elections officials used to determine if there were adequate signatures. In all, the campaign attorneys argue they have 4,900 more signatures than necessary to gain a spot on the ballot.
• Will the Open Primaries initiative be on the Nov 2012 ballot or not? (video) (by Pamela Powers Hannley, Blog for Arizona.com) As of mid-August, Open Primaries was back on the ballot, until this week, when Maricopa County said that there were an extraordinary number of bad signatures. The latest news is that the Open Primaries/Open Government folks have filed a suit to get the initiative back on the ballot. Supporters claim that Maricopa County erroneously rejected.
• Open primaries could encourage more competition (Yuma Sun) The state's high court ruled last week that the open primary system met constitutional muster. A lower court had said it was illegal because it contained two separate proposals, which is not allowed under the Arizona Constitution. The Supreme Court said that is not the case. Now it turns out the legal dispute may not matter anyway. Questions are being raised by county election officials about whether the initiative has enough signatures to be put on the ballot. The outcome will not be known until the signatures are all verified.
• Open primary would force political shift (By Today’s News-Herald - Nogales International) An open primary would make the process more straightforward. It would also tend to tone down the long primary campaigns based on party purity and force candidates to consider how best to show they can represent their whole constituency.

LAST WORD
GOP voters get 12.45 percent of Colo. letters questioning citizenship (IVAN MORENO, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Colorado Springs Gazette) U.S citizens are among those who received letters from Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler questioning their right to vote, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday… The vast majority of registered voters who received letters were Democrats or independent voters. Of the nearly 4,000 letters, 1,566 went to Democrats, and 1,794 went to unaffiliated voters. Another 486 letters were sent to Republicans, which equals 12.45 percent of the total.

Hankster News of the Day for Independents - July 14

"CIVIL POLITICS"
SHERMAN: Film explores civility in politics (By LOLA SHERMAN For the North County Times) Last year, the college staged a public-issues symposium on the subject of "Civility in Our Civic Discourse." It explored what often has become a lack of civility, both in politics and media. A guest speaker was former U.S. Congressman Mickey Edwards, R-Okla., who spoke to a full house at the college's Community Learning Center in Oceanside.

OBAMA AND THE INDEPENDENT VOTE

• Clear And ‘Independent’ Danger (The Note) (By MICHAEL FALCONE and AMY WALTER) Digging into the crosstabs of this week’s ABC News-Washington Post poll it’s clear that Obama has a significant problem with independent voters. On every measure, independents are significantly more disappointed with the President and more open to a Romney message.
• Obama holds ‘significant lead’ over Romney in new national poll (By Paul West, Boston Herald/Tribune) A similar shift was reflected among independent voters, a prized target for both candidates, who are now almost evenly divided on who would best improve the economy. In June, Romney enjoyed a 13-point edge among independents on that question. The latest survey, like most polling at this stage of the campaign, did not attempt to narrow the contest down to likely voters. Obama’s lead, Pew found, stemmed from the fact that more voters currently identify themselves as Democrats than Republicans, and that virtually identical proportions of each say they will back their party’s nominee. Put another way, the results of the survey are yet a further indication that voter mobilization will be crucial in determining the winner of this year’s election.

FLORIDA
Judge holds off on ruling in Miami-Dade State Attorney election write-in issue (By DAVID OVALLE, Miami Herald) A federal judge said he will decide Friday whether to force Miami-Dade County to open up the State Attorney’s Aug. 14 primary election to more than 700,000 Republican and independent voters. U.S. Judge William Zloch heard arguments Thursday, but stopped short of deciding immediately. Two voters are suing Miami-Dade’s election supervisor, saying that a “loophole” in the state’s election law that allows write-in candidates to close primary elections is disenfranchising thousands of voters.

ARIZONA
BREAKING: Independent voters surge while Democratic voters in Arizona drop by 52,000 in 2011. (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, Tucson Citizen/Hispanic Politico) On the other hand, this is good news for the independent voters — and despite fraudulent misconceptions that are out there, indeed independent Arizona voters are able to vote and participate in the Arizona primary election process. As an independent voter, I left the Republican party for good due to their extremism, however, the Democratic Party leadership is also turning off Latino Democratic voters, too, because they are walking a dangerous line.

OHIO
Attempt to Overturn GOP Redistricting Moves Forward  - Organization submits 450,000 petition signatures to Ohio Secretary of State (City Beat - Cincinnati) On July 3, Voters First, a coalition established after HB-369's inception to combat the bill's Republican-led efforts to deliberately have congressional and legislative districts drawn in their favor, submitted 450,000 petition signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State — significantly more than the 385,000 signatures necessary to obtain a spot on the November ballot. At the end of the month, the Secretary of State will review the signatures and determine which are eligible, after which the coalition will have another set period to obtain more signatures, should the 385,000 not be met.

COLORADO
Unaffiliated candidate running for Colorado House (LETTER Snowmass Sun by Kathleen Curry) The overwhelming positive response and encouragement I received while completing the ballot petition process has energized the campaign and convinced me that voters are ready for the current political system to be reformed and improved.

Round-Up: California's First "Top Two" Primary Yields Less Party Control, More Independent Participation

Media coverage of California's first "Top Two" primary last week was somewhat varied, most grumbling about how it didn't produce the results that was hoped for and locked out 3rd parties...

Notable exception from Jason Olson, an activist with IndependentVoice.org in IVN: "[Last Tuesday's] vote showed what removing party control over the elections can do. We had a primary process that was about selecting the best leader to move California forward, rather than who was the best partisan to fight for their party. [F]ive independent (“No Party Preference”) candidates running for the California Legislature placed in the “top two” of their respective races and will advance to the general election to face an incumbent. Top Two Open Primary champion Abel Maldonado (R) will also advance.

The Hankster is a strong backer of Top Two, Open Primaries and Nonpartisan Municipal Elections and has campaigned vigorously for all.

Here is a round-up of commentary on California's primary last Tuesday:

• Independent Thoughts on CA’s Primary Results (By Jason Olson, IVN) Congratulations again to the voters who supported the Top Two Open Primary and Redistricting Reform measures in past elections. Yesterday’s vote showed what removing party control over the elections can do. We had a primary process that was about selecting the best leader to move California forward, rather than who was the best partisan to fight for their party.
  
• Dems dismayed by Assembly shutout (Written by Sean Janssen, The Union Democrat) Democratic Party leaders throughout the State Assembly 5th District were in a sour mood Wednesday as their party will have no representative on the Nov. 6 ballot for the legislative seat. Though there had been a handful of special elections for vacant offices in the state since voters approved the Proposition 14 “top two” primary in November 2010, Tuesday’s primary marked the first regular statewide election using the system.
• California’s Open Primary Costs Super-PAC $711,000 on Just One Race (By Ellen Uchimiya,
  Bloomberg/ Political Capital) That cash infusion seemed to help. Brownley and Strickland advanced after Tuesday’s primary. If this had been a closed primary, Brownley would have advanced anyway… and the House Majority PAC would have saved $711,000.
• Herdt: An election to confound Will Rogers (By Timm Herdt, Ventura County Star) Parties have infrastructure. Independents, who have to build their campaigns from scratch, don't stand much of a chance of competing against that — unless, like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, they have bottomless personal wealth.
• California's election reform flops (By Joe Mathews, LA Times) Oh, well, But give the reformers credit; they did make change. In place of our old system, we got something that preserves many of our worst political traditions — while making things a little bit worse.
• California Dreaming: Why New Election Rules Won't Help Centrists (By Josh Kraushaar, National Journal/ Hotline On Call) Two national newspapers today reach dramatically different conclusions about the impact of California's new top-two election system, which was designed to help elect more centrists and undermine the party primary system that had long been in place. The New York Times concludes the open, non partisan primary served as a "splash of cold water" to those reformers who thought it would "bring a new wave of independent candidates and voters." The Wall Street Journal concluded the system worked, because finalists "now must search for support from independents and voters in other parties." Who's right?
• California Centrists See Their Stock Rise Open-Primary Results Show That Finalists Now Must Search for Support From Independents and Voters in Other Parties (By JIM CARLTON and JUSTIN SCHECK, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal) The state still leans heavily Democratic, with 43% of voters registered as Democrats in April, compared with 30% as Republicans and 21% with no party preference—up from 14% who said they were impartial 12 years ago. Appealing to those in the middle now becomes more crucial for candidates like Lois Capps, a liberal-leaning Democratic congresswoman from the state's Central Coast. Before, she rarely needed to reach out to conservative Republicans, said Bill Carrick, her campaign strategist. But after a centrist Republican named Abel Maldonado challenged her in a runoff, Mr. Carrick said Ms. Capps would reach out to the GOP base.
• Fletcher: No regrets after loss about leaving GOP (By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle) New York Times columnist David Brooks called his bid a nationwide test case on whether it's possible to succeed as an independent alternative. That didn't happen Tuesday.
• California’s Nonpartisan Primary Shows Independents to Be in Short Supply (By JENNIFER MEDINA, New York Times) David Wasserman, who analyzes House races for The Cook Political Report, called the outcome in San Bernardino a “freak political accident,” particularly because President Obama is likely to win the area by as much as a double-digit margin.
• California electoral reforms yield no big changes (By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle) Voters mostly rejected the independent and moderate candidates that the changes were intended to bolster to reduce partisanship, instead sending nearly every state legislative and congressional incumbent forward to runoffs in November, in some cases against opponents in their own party. A few races remained too close to call Wednesday.
• How California’s Top-Two Open Primary Shrinks Voter Choice in Congressional Races in November (Ballot Access News) The San Francisco Chronicle’s story about the election returns is that the top-two system “shook up the system.” Actually, in every single congressional race in which one incumbent was running, that incumbent came in first. In the races with two incumbents running against each other due to redistricting, one of the incumbents always came in first and the other incumbent always came in second. As has been shown in Louisiana and Washington, top-two systems make it far easier for incumbents to be re-elected than normal systems do.
• Shift in voting rules shakes up primary elections (Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle) Californians were also voting for the first time for candidates vying to represent legislative and congressional districts drawn up not by gerrymandering politicians or the courts, but by a citizens' commission - the result of a ballot measure that voters passed in 2008, Proposition 11. Stark was one of several incumbents once considered invincible and now thought to be in danger of losing their jobs in redrawn districts.
• California voters mixed about new top-two primary (By Jim Sanders, Sac Bee) The new system also gives more clout to no-party-preference voters, whose ranks have jumped from 10.7 percent of California's electorate in 1996 to 21.3 percent today. Republican Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, as a state senator, forced the top-two primary onto the 2010 ballot by making it one of several demands to Democratic legislative leaders in return for his pivotal vote to end an 81-day budget impasse in 2009.
• Independent Overview: CA Primary Preliminary Results (By Damon Eris, IVN) With 100% of precincts now reporting, it appears that California’s first statewide test of its new top two open primary system did not result in higher levels of voter turnout, as had been predicted by supporters of the system. Indeed, this primary election may be noteworthy for its historically low voter turnout in a presidential election year. Preliminary reports indicate that voter turnout across the state hovered in the 30-35% range, with the vast majority of eligible voters opting to stay home rather than head to the polls.
• California primary results: GOP catches a ‘top-two’ break (Posted by Aaron Blake, Washington Post/The Fix by Chris Cillizza) House Republicans got a big break under California’s new primary system Tuesday, after Democrats failed to get a candidate into the general election for Rep. Gary Miller’s (R-Calif.) swing district.
• As We See It: The independent party's over (EDITORIAL Santa Cruz Sentinel) California voters sent a crushing message to minor parties in 2010 when they approved the open primary for Tuesday's election. Because the new system sends the top two finishers in state races, regardless of party affiliation, onto the November ballot, this effectively ends the chances of the Green, Libertarian, American Independent and Peace and Freedom parties in those elections… Third parties nationally and minor parties in California have a purpose: To bring independent ideas and candidates to public attention. Their presence has been severely diminished, and it's a loss.
• Brad Breithaupt: Third parties left out of new 'top-two' primary (By Brad Breithaupt, Marin Independent Journal) With a dozen candidates running for Congress and seven vying for Assembly, voters hardly were denied a choice on the June 5 ballot. There was a variety of experience and politics to choose from, even though most of the candidates were Democrats.

Hankster News of the Day for Independents - May 29

Today's picks on the independent political scene:

• The Buzz: Independent Voter Project urging 'nones' to vote on June 5 (By Bee staff) The Independent Voter Project, which wrote the measure leading to the new top-two primary, is mailing fliers and using social media to urge people with no party preference to vote on June 5. One flier pictures two men smoking cigars and says, "Political bosses made their choices" and "you were not involved." It adds, "This time you're invited … the new open primary puts you in charge." The flier was sent to about 250,000 Californians who listed no party preference when they registered to vote, said Steve Peace, a former state legislator and chairman of the Independent Voter Project.
• Top-two primary affects Assembly race - Two Republicans are certain to face-off in November (Written by Christopher Cadelago, UT San Diego News) Under the old partisan primary system, these candidates likely would be motivated to appeal to the Republican core to win their party’s nomination for the November election. But all voters can now vote for any candidate.
• Linda Parks Tops IVN Survey of Independent Voters in CD-26 (By Kymberly Bays, IVN) The results are in for the IVN Independent Voter Survey in California’s 26th Congressional District. Over a thousand voters participated in the first of its kind demonstration project. The election was by secret ballot, conducted by Everyone Counts, the international leader in online election technology.
• Massachusetts Senate Race to Be Decided by Independent Voters (By Michael Abrams, IVN) Most significant, however, is Massachusetts’s voter demographics: more than half the state’s voters are registered independents. With Warren a dream-candidate for the States’ liberals, and Brown conservative enough for most establishment Republicans, the race has become a brawl for the independent vote.
• Donald Trump and Mitt Romney's Kiss of Death to Black and Independent Voters (Black Star News Editorial) Gingrich and Trump are the last people Romney wants to embrace if he's serious about reaching level-headed Black voters and many Independents as well who repudiate race-baiting. Gingrich famously referred to President Obama as the "welfare president." It was his desperate appeal to racists, including some in the Tea Party, who have never forgiven voters for electing Barack Obama as the country's first Black president. 
• 2012 Election: King gift to Obama draws fire from rivals - The independent donated to Democrats before he became a candidate for the U.S. Senate. (By Colin Woodard, Morning Sentinel)
• Gay marriage? Bullying? Voters don’t care. (Posted by Chris Cillizza, Washington Post/The Fix) In a brand spanking new Washington Post-ABC News national poll, 56 percent of registered voters said that Obama’s stance on gay marriage would not be a major factor in their vote. Fifty seven percent of independents said the same.
• Romney Handily Winning Independent Voters (by Bryan Schott, UTAH POLICY) The Hill notes that in 12 of the last 14 major polls taken about the 2012 race, Romney has an average lead among independent voters over Barack Obama of 6.5%. That's despite a national lead for Obama in 8 of those 14 polls.
• Brazile: Not the year of the third party (By Donna Brazile/Syndicated columnist, MetroWest Daily News) Then, from the center, came Americans Elect, an ambitious organization that spent $35 million dollars and accomplished the impressive feat of registering in 29 states. It received a lot of favorable publicity, as well as respectful recognition from credible political writers.
• Kelly's Tenure Divides the Mayoral Contenders (By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal) Two Democrats—Bill Thompson, a former city comptroller, and John Liu, the current comptroller—said they wouldn't keep Mr. Kelly at 1 Police Plaza. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who leads in mayoral polls, and Tom Allon, a long-shot, have signaled they would. And two others—Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer—won't say, though both have expressed deep concerns about some of Mr. Kelly's policies, most notably the street tactic known as "stop and frisk."
• NY-8: "An Evolution Of Charles Barron"? (BY Celeste Katz, NY Daily News/ Daily Politics) I spoke at some length with Brooklyn City Councilman Charles Barron and DC 37 Political Director Wanda Williams about the union's decision to go with him over Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries in the battle for the NY-8 Congressional endorsement. 
• Romney’s plan seems certain to hasten privatization of public schools systems (BY Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post, In Salt Lake Tribune) If you don’t like Obama’s agenda, you might like Romney’s even less. A Chance For Every Child is the education program that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee spelled out in a speech and a white paper released Wednesday. Romney is advancing a pro-choice, pro-voucher, pro-states-rights education program that seems certain to hasten the privatization of the public education system. In a Romney-run education world, the parents of poor and special-education students would choose a school - public or private, based on standardized test scores and other data - and then a specific amount of public money would follow the child to the school.
• Red Mind, Blue Mind: Are There Really Any Independents? (Wray Herbert, Author "On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits", Huffington Post) As Hawkins reported this week at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, in Chicago, self-proclaimed Independents are not as independent-minded as they claim they are. In fact, Independents vary greatly in their unconscious partisanship, and they make partisan political judgments in line with their implicit political identities.

I'm An Independent - Can I Vote in Super Tuesday's Republican Primary?

Alaska - Open Primary: Parties select who may vote in their primaries. To vote in the GOP primary, a voter must be registered as a Republican 30 days before Election Day.

Georgia - Open: No party affiliation required at registration. However, on Election Day, voters must declare an oath of intent to affiliate with the particular party for whom they are voting on Election Day.

Idaho - Closed: Until 2011, all Idaho primaries were open. Independents intervened in a lawsuit brought by a faction of the Republican Party seeking to close their primaries. However, the GOP obtained a declaratory judgment that mandating open primaries violated freedom of association and was thus unconstitutional in Idaho Republican Party v. Ysura. Subsequently, the legislature passed a bill allowing parties to choose which type of primary they use. Democrats have chosen a semi-closed primary; unaffiliated voters may register a party at the polls on election day, but they are bound to that party affiliation at the next election.

Massachusetts - Semi-Closed: Affiliated voters must vote in the primary of their party; however, unaffiliated voters may vote in either primary.

North Dakota - Closed: The only state without voter registration. To vote in the Republican caucus you must have affiliated with the Republican Party in the last general election or intend to do so in the next election.

Ohio - Closed: Voters' right to vote in the primary may be challenged on the basis that they are not affiliated with the party for whom they are voting in the primary.

Oklahoma - Closed: Only voters affiliated with a particular party may vote in its primary.

Tennessee - Open: No party affiliation required at registration. 

Vermont - Open: No registration by party. For presidential primary, voters must declare which ballots they want.

Virginia - Open: No party affiliation required at registration.

source: FairVote

Declaration of Independents (North Carolina to Arizona and All Points In Between)

INDEPENDENTVOTING.ORG NETWORKS

• DECLARATION OF THE INDEPENDENTS (By Omar H. Ali and Donna Moser, News Observer) The widely-discussed yet continually misunderstood "independent voter" is neither ideologically driven nor a closet partisan (be it Democrat nor Republican). We are not "swing voters,"' nor are we "moderates." Rather, we come from across the political spectrum and the one thing we agree upon is the need to minimize partisan control over the political process.
• The Impact of Independent Voters (WUNC) Host Frank Stasio talks with three of the event’s participants: Omar Ali, associate professor of African-American Studies and History at UNC-Greensboro; Donna Moser, co-founder of North Carolina Independents; and Brittany Rodman, a young, registered independent voter.
• Will Open Primaries Shake Up Politics in Arizona? (Pamela Powers Hannley, Huffington Post) Open primaries -- where all candidates regardless of party affiliation are listed on one ballot -- would give voters, rather than political parties, a greater voice in government, says Ted Downing, Ph.D., research professor of social development in the Arizona Research Laboratories at the University of Arizona and one of the initiative's architects.
• Will Arizona's GOP Self-Destruct? (By Terry Greene Sterling, Daily Beast) The Arizona GOP already has a set of challenges that it hasn’t faced before. Herstam notes that an energetic petition drive for open primaries is underway. If it gathers enough signatures in the next five months, it will show up on the November ballot. If passed, the open primary system will likely unseat extremists now in the Arizona legislature. Expect both parties to oppose it.
• Arizona Top-Two Initiative Has Collected 100,000 Signatures So Far (Ballot Access News) It is believed that California multi-millionaire Charles Munger, Jr., is providing much of the financial backing for the initiative, so there seems little doubt that it will qualify.

Mississippi Open Primary Drive Goes to the Next Level

OPEN PRIMARIES
Tea party meet hears of open primary effort (Daily Leader - Brookhaven and SW Mississippi) Now, Marla Nottingham is moving from a petition to a full ballot initiative. Her goal is to bring a constitutional amendment opening up Mississippi's primaries to a statewide vote. Nottingham appeared Monday night at the first meeting of the Brookhaven Tea Party. Organizer Kendall Boutwell praised Nottingham's efforts and voiced support for them.

Baltimore Sun: Top Two Might Fix Baltimore's Broken Primary System

OPEN PRIMARIES
Fixing Baltimore's broken primary (EDITORIAL Baltimore Sun) There are plenty of other models for how to run an election so that it more accurately reflects the will of the people than the strict party system we have here. An intriguing idea is the one recently enacted in California; there, the top two vote getters in the primary (regardless of party affiliation) square off in the general election. It's worth considering. Other ideas, such as proportional representation and run-off elections, could better engage voters and provide elected officials with a clearer mandate.

Partisan Reactions to California Top Two Continue

CALIFORNIA TOP TWO

• California State Appeals Court Hears Arguments over Injunctive Relief in Top-Two Details Lawsuit (Ballot Access News) On September 7, the California Court of Appeals in San Francisco heard arguments in Field v Bowen. The issue is two particular aspects of the California top-two system (Proposition 14), and whether the Superior Court should have granted injunctive relief in a special election earlier this year.
• Lawmaker-residency bill dropped until 2012 (LA Times/PolitiCal) Jones said the bill was being held until 2012 in connection with other provisions in the measure that apply to California's new "open primary" system, which allows the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, to advance to the general election.
• California Legislative Analysis Shows Election Administration-Related Problems Caused by Prop. 14 (Ballot Access News) The analysis also says, “This bill shortens the format in which a candidate’s party preference is displayed on the ballot, shortens and clarifies the ballot instructions that appear on the ballot, and eliminates certain type size and typeface requirements to give county elections officials greater flexibility to format their ballots. These changes should help address some of the concerns raised by elections officials in this committee’s oversight hearing.”
• California push to change candidate residency laws scrapped (Sac Bee/Capitol Alert, Torey Van Oot) The current language for Assembly Bill 1413 was inserted into an existing bill just one week ahead of the scheduled end of the legislative session. But the effort was abandoned today, just hours after a scheduled hearing on the bill has been postponed, as supporters decided to hold off on action until next year.

Illinois State Senate Candidate Bill Clutter Initiates Open Primary Petition Drive

OPEN PRIMARIES

• STATE SENATE CANDIDATE BILL CLUTTER ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR OPEN PRIMARY AMENDMENT - 48th District includes most of Macon County. (Decatur Tribune) “The secret ballot is a right that should be enjoyed by all citizens of Illinois, that includes the right to keep party affiliation secret”, said Clutter.
• State senate candidate Clutter starts petition drive for open primary (By BERNARD SCHOENBURG, THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER) Rutan became the first signer of the petition at the news conference. Clutter said more than 298,000 signatures will be needed statewide. The Illinois Constitution allows amendments through citizen initiative only of the legislative article, so Clutter’s proposed amendment applies only to primary elections to choose General Assembly candidates.

Political Parties Attempt to Undermine Top Two Election Reform in California

CALIFORNIA TOP TWO

• Dan Walters: Fun, games mark California Legislature's final week (By Dan Walters, Sac Bee) • There's an 11th-hour flurry of efforts to alter election rules, including a still-unwritten bill sought by Democrats and unions to make all initiative measures go on the November ballot, and a newly written bill that would effectively end write-in votes for state offices, thus settling a legal issue over the impact of Proposition 14, the new "top-two" primary election system.
• California State Senate to Vote on Abolishing Write-in Space on General Election Ballots on Wednesday, September 7 (Ballot Access News) The California Senate will vote on Wednesday, September 7, on AB 1413. The bill abolishes write-in space on California general election ballots for Congress and state office.
• Political parties attempt to undermine open primary election reform in California (by Chad Peace, CAIVN) In an attempt to blunt the upcoming top-two open primary's ability to limit political party control over elections in California, the state Assembly is trying to change the way a candidate's political party appears on the ballot. Proposition 14, passed by the voters in 2010, changed the primary system to consolidate all of the candidates onto one ballot, with the top two vote getters advancing to the general election. Candidates are only required to list their party preference, allowing Independents to run with the ballot designation "no party preference." AB 1413 aims to undermine the reforms by changing "party preference" to "party affiliation," interjecting political party influence back into open primaries.

Open Primary Not Good for Tea Party

OPEN PRIMARY

• Congressional special election in LA brings big spending (Chase Davis, California Watch) The race, California’s first under the open primary system approved by voters last fall, has been marked by all the controversy of a ballot box nail-biter, even though Hahn holds the edge on paper.
• GOP mulls primary options - State's tea partiers pushing caucus instead (BY KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN-ASSOCIATED PRESS, Detroit Free Press) Dennis Moore, director of the Willow Run Tea Party Caucus in Ypsilanti, said he thinks a party convention or caucus gives tea partiers their best chance. "No open primary, because that's a bad deal for us," Moore said Wednesday.

OBAMA
Obama Will Win Independent Vote in 2012 (Jeremy Los, policymic "Next Generation News and Politics) In the end, independent voters are more than likely going to turn out in favor of Obama because many Americans believe he will have made positive strides fixing the economy. Independents’ tendency to follow what transpires on hot button issues will likely swing their vote in Obama’s favor if he is able to make some headway on the country’s economic turmoil. With no legitimate candidate rising from the GOP, independent voters will have to make the choice to either vote for Obama or not vote at all.

BUDGET

• Harry Reid, Henry Clay (By Brent Budowsky, The Hill) The president has never come to grips with the contradiction of trying to be a part-partisan president facing a hyper-partisan GOP. One solution would be to name America’s leading political independent and post-partisan officeholder, the financially brilliant and vastly respected Michael Bloomberg, as Treasury secretary if Timothy Geithner chooses to leave.
• Even the right is pissed at Republicans (By DOUG THOMPSON, Capitol Hill Blue "Because Nobody's Life, Liberty or Property is Safe While Congress is in Session or the White House is Occupied") Polls by CNN/Opinion Research and ABC/Washington Post say Americans are fed up with both parties and the overall behavior of Congress. 
• Time to compromise on debt ceiling (David Brooks, The Detroit News) If the debt ceiling talks fail, independent voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise, but Republicans were not. If responsible Republicans don't take control, independents will conclude that fanaticism caused this default.
• The Only Reform That Will Restrain Spending -- All 47 Senate Republicans now support changing the Constitution to balance the federal budget. (By OLYMPIA SNOWE And JIM DEMINT, Wall Street Journal) If Congress increases our national debt ceiling next month without permanent, structural budget reforms, we will signal to taxpayers and bond markets alike that Washington is still in denial. Whatever agreement is reached, everyone will know that future Congresses are not obligated to follow it. As a result, the only way to compel lawmakers to maintain their responsibility forever is a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

UTAH
New BYU poll suggests tea party influence on the decline (By Lisa Riley Roche, Deseret News) The drop in support among voters who call themselves independent, independent Republicans and not-so-strong Republicans comes as tea party are targeting some elected officials for their support of a controversial immigration law… "What gives the tea party so much of its strength is our caucus system is biased toward the very active and the ideologically committed," Patterson said.

THE MIDDLE
CENTRIST ALLIANCE STAKES OUT A PLACE BETWEEN THE PARTISAN EXTREMES (by Damon Eris, CAIVN) On the issues, the Centrist Alliance is currently maintaining a relatively open platform emphasizing a strong national defense, immigration reform, a sensible and pragmatic foreign policy, energy independence and electoral reforms that would encourage civic participation and provide an equal place at the table for alternative parties and Independent voters.

American Voters Need Open Primary to Overcome Partisan Destructiveness

OPEN PRIMARY
Randy's Ramblings: Recent shenanigans aren’t a reason to abandon the open primary - Some conservative bloggers are gloating over the Republican Party’s use of Wisconsin’s open primary system to play shenanigans with the upcoming state Senate recall elections. (By: Randy Hanson, Hudson Star-Observer)

PENNSYLVANIA
Third Parties Face Stiff Hurdles in PA (By Judith Ayers, Politics PA) Libertarian Lou Jasikoff stated that they were approached by the Republicans lawyers and told that their signatures to get on the ballot were “no good.” “You have an hour to drop out voluntary or we will sue you for the cost to look up the challenges,” he says he was told... The Green Party has had its own ballot access problems. In 2006 Carl Romanelli ran for the U.S. Senate against Rick Santorum and Bob Casey. Fearing he could siphon votes from Casey, Democrats filed a challenge to his petitions with Commonwealth Court. Romanelli is still facing more than $80,000 in court costs over the matter.

EDUCATION REFORM

• Joel Klein vs. those status quo apologists (By Valerie Strauss, Washington Post/The Answer Sheet) The rhetoric here is, to my ear, quite remarkable. It doesn’t place children and their development in the foreground; rather, the emphasis is on what schools can extract from kids. It’s a dangerous rhetorical twist, because it points to accountability systems that can decouple school-performance measures from student learning. There’s little persuasive evidence that such systems can promote lasting achievement.
• Theater on W. 42nd Street Holds Free Day of Classes - Students can take improv, hip-hop, or even meet with "development coaches" during the All Stars Project's Opening Day Saturday. (By Meredith Hoffman, DNAinfo.com Manhattan Local News)
• ESEA Reauthorization: A Crucial Step to Improve Schools - CAP Event Looks at How to Strengthen American Education Through ESEA (Center for American Progress Action Fund) Two expert panel discussions followed, the first featuring Rep. George Miller; U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; former U.S. Secretary of Education and current president and CEO of her eponymous company Margaret Spellings; as well as moderator John Podesta. The second expert panel featured Rep. George Miller; American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten; Vice President for Government Affairs and Communications of the Education Trust Amy Wilkins; and moderator Cynthia Brown, the Vice President for Education Policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Pennsylvania On the Way to Open Primary

PENNSYLVANIA
Nonpartisan participants - Not sold on independents voting in primaries (EDITORIAL The Tribune-Democrat - Johnstown PA) But we oppose [open primaries] because it would undermine the purpose of primary races, which is to set the field by political party for the November general elections.

CALIFORNIA
Blurry Lines - California’s redistricting commission draws an uncertain map of the Golden State’s electoral future. (JOHN J. PITNEY, JR., City Journal)
Dan Walters: The big stakes? Two-thirds margin (Modesto Bee) Combined with the new "top-two" primary system, more swing districts would probably mean more moderate legislators who would not move in lock-step with right- or left-wing pressure groups.

NEW YORK
Redistricting reform, now (by Jay Jochnowitz, Editorial page editor, Albany Times Union) Here, in case any of them misplaced their pledge, is what they signed on for: “Ensuring that redistricting pursuant to the 2010 Census be constitutional and fair … the creation of an independent, non-partisan Redistricting Commission to draft advisory maps for the Legislature to review and approve.”

2012
Ron Paul says appeal to independent voters gives him an edge (JENNIFER JACOBS, Des Moines Register/2012 Iowa Caucuses) At the Stone Cliff Winery in the riverfront area, Paul drew whistles and hearty applause from a crowd of about 160, a more robust crowd than expected for a weekday, his staff said… Paul said he is especially attractive to independents “since Obama’s not trusted on the economy. And actually the progressives are very annoyed with him, too, because he was really supposed to wind those wars down.”

Historic California Top Two Primary Day

CALIFORNIA TOP TWO PRIMARY DAY

• Light turnout expected in election for vacant US House seat in Southern Calif.'s 36th District (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Daily Journal) The race also is notable because it is the first congressional test of California's new open primary system for electing lawmakers. Voters, regardless of registration, can select candidates from any party, and if no one clears 50 percent to win outright, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff, even if they are from the same party.
• Historic election arrives (By Eric Bradley, LA Daily Breeze) Passed by voters last June, Proposition 14 created the "jungle primary" - where all candidates appear on a single ballot. The change is aimed at reducing partisanship and ensuring that general elections are less perfunctory. If no candidate wins a majority, then the top two, regardless of party affiliation, advance to a runoff, set for July 12.

Debate on Top Two Open Primary Continues

Ken Beingenheimer has been running a series on Top Two. The debate continues here:

H. Sol: [Opposes Top Two because it] “puts more power into the hands of party insiders.”

Bill: Actually, the exact opposite is true. As I wrote in The Hankster, the California GOP is in a panic precisely because they have just realized that Prop 14 takes away some of the special privileges it once had as a so-called “qualified” party. Party elites and insiders can’t control who gets on the ballot or who uses the label “Republican.” Anybody who registered to vote as a “Republican” can use that label on the ballot.

This reduces the significance of the Party’s precious label. So now, they are no more than one private organization among many. They realize that if they are to have any chance of their official “Republican” candidate standing out among all the other “Republicans,” they have to agree in the primary stage on one candidate per office and back him or her to the hilt.

This is their response to their loss of power, and it does not make up that loss. The Republican Party is a wounded lion in California, and desperately struggling to survive. Prop 14 is working extremely well!

South Carolina: IndependentVoting.org to Join State Independents to Intervene on Behalf of Existing Open Primary?

According to its attorney Harry Kresky, Independentvoting.org is exploring the possibility of joining with South Carolina independents, third party activists and progressives to intervene in open primary litigation in South Carolina.

In June of this year the Republican Party commenced a lawsuit against the State of South Carolina which seeks to limit who can vote in the Republican Party primary elections to persons registered into the Party. You can read the RP complaint at Ballot Access News here.

As in Idaho, the plaintiffs claim that it violates their right to freedom of association for the State to allow non-party members to participate in the nomination of the Republican Party's candidates. South Carolina has had open primaries since the dismantling of the all white primary system in the 1950’s. Independentvoting.org would be aligned with the State of South Carolina in defending the open primary system.

Citizens Union John Avlon: Increased Interest in New York for Open Primary System

Citizens Union spokesperson and independent journalist now with CNN John Avlon testifies - via phone - before NYC Charter Revision Commission in favor of Top-Two open primary (nonpartisan election) for city elections. Citizens Union presented 50 recommendations to the commission that would encourage voter participation. Under the current primary system in NYC, 1.5 million voters are excluded from the decisive first round of voting.





"Yes, there is an uptake of independent voters in New York, but let's also discuss the election cycle. The "obvious reasons" for unions and other special interest groups to oppose this reform because their impact is greater in a closed partisan election. In addition to the dysfunction we have seen in Albany, the hyperpartisanship we see in Washington, there is increased interest in an open primary system."