Posted by jesse shayne on July 14, 2016 at 5:31 PM
This article was written by Kaitlyn Schallhorn for The Blaze
While grassroots efforts are underway to unbind delegates at the Republican National Convention, there’s another movement underfoot to make the GOP primaries more inclusive.
Open Primaries, a nonprofit organization, is set to deliver a petition bearing 32,000 signatories to the RNC Rules Committee Thursday in Cleveland demanding that the national party implement a rule to make state primaries and caucuses open to all — no matter party affiliation.
Read more
Posted by jesse shayne on July 12, 2016 at 11:59 AM
This article was written by Open Primaries for the Independent Voter Network
Electoral reform is getting much more attention in the wake of the presidential primary cycle. From open primaries to superdelegates, voter registration measures, campaign finance, and everything in between, all of the process issues were fair game after the unorthodox campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump exposed the party nomination process for what it is: a charade in which the parties pull the strings and voters are given an illusion of choice.
In the 2016 presidential primary cycle alone, over 26 million registered voters were barred from participating because they were not affiliated with the Democratic or Republican Parties in closed primary states. Early party registration dates, purged voter records, and arcane electoral codes confused and disenfranchised thousands, including those independent voters who sought to join a party in anticipation of the primary.
There were numerous reports of polling sites that did not open on primary day, accounts of long waits at the polls, and revelations of other more sinister forms of voter suppression.
These are some of the many reasons that Open Primaries is one organization leading a movement to ensure that all voters have a stake in their political system, and that our government is representative of the people, not the parties.
Read more
Posted by jesse shayne on July 11, 2016 at 3:46 PM
This article was written by Open Primaries President John Opdycke for the Forward (also in the Hyde Park Herald and Progressive Illinois)
I grew up four blocks away from Abner Mikva’s house in Evanston. In the late 1970s, my contact with then-Congressman Mikva was limited to trips to his house on Halloween when he or one of his family members would hand out full-size Hershey bars to the neighborhood ghosts and pirates. I appreciated his largess so much that one year I changed out of my cardboard robot costume and came back to his door as “boy in wrangler jeans with metallic silver face paint” just to get another one of those jumbo chocolate bars.
As a member of a not-very-political Evanston family, I made the understandable mistake of assuming that the exclamation mark at the end of the myriad “Mikva!” T-shirts worn by every third person in Evanston was in recognition of his confectionery generosity.
Read more
Posted by jesse shayne on July 11, 2016 at 9:14 AM
This article was written by Nicole Tschetter for KOTA Territory ABC News
Amendment V – or as supporters like to call it the amendment for the voters— is creating a lot of buzz around KOTA Territory before it heads to the general election in November.
“Amendment V creates a non-partisan primary, in which all voters in South Dakota would vote for the candidates in the general election,” Chuck Parkinson, a Republican, said.
Read more
Posted by on June 30, 2016 at 5:54 PM
This article was written by Claire Sasko for Philadelphia Magazine
Nonprofit Open Primaries released a recent study that claims to highlight how much the primaries cost taxpayers this year, and Pennsylvania primaries were the fifth most-expensive in the country, according to the study.
State taxpayers paid $20 million to hold the closed primaries, according to the report, meaning independent voters – who were barred from voting – still had to bear the cost.
Pennsylvania primaries ranked fifth-highest, behind New York, Illinois, Maryland and California, which ranked highest at $96 million, the analysis found.
Read more
Posted by jesse shayne on June 27, 2016 at 2:12 PM
This article was written by James Call for the Tallahassee Democrat
Leon County taxpayers will spend more than $606,000 this year for Democratic and Republican parties’ primaries – members’ only affairs. In exchange for the money, they can expect two presidential candidates that a record number of Americans don’t like and two congressional elections in districts so gerrymandered that half of the voters effectively have no say in who will represent their interests in Washington next year.
Read more
Posted by jesse shayne on June 24, 2016 at 12:56 PM
Open Primaries Communications Associate Zach Handler was interviewed by the New York Post on his political leanings and why he supports open primaries.
Read more
Posted by jesse shayne on June 24, 2016 at 10:31 AM
Open Primaries President John Opdycke has been featured in a number of news programs in recent months. Click the link above to see a compilation of Open Primaries in the news.
Read more
Posted by jesse shayne on June 23, 2016 at 5:10 PM
This article was written by Robert Harding for The Citizen
If you aren't a registered Democrat or Republican, you couldn't participate in New York's closed presidential primaries.
But that doesn't mean you didn't help pay for the elections.
Open Primaries, an electoral reform group, released a report Thursday that found closed presidential primaries cost taxpayers at least $287.8 million. In New York, the price tag was roughly $25 million.
Read more
Posted by jesse shayne on June 15, 2016 at 5:12 PM
This article was written by Diana Ferguson for Argus Leader
At least one South Dakotan sees a bright spot with this year's presidential candidates.
Rick Knobe, chairman of a committee trying to convince voters to back non-partisan statewide elections, said frustration with the presumptive nominees for both major parties should help his group make the case for reform with many voters.
Read more
