Posted by Russell Daniels on April 16, 2019 at 12:54 PM
You said no to gerrymandering. You legalized medical marijuana. You restored voting rights for ex-felons.
Up next: Floridians may have the chance to reform the way the entire state votes.
I say: Bring … it … on.
A campaign is quietly taking shape — one involving hundreds of thousands of dollars from bipartisan sources — to end Florida’s closed primary system.
Posted by Russell Daniels on March 13, 2019 at 11:50 AM
TALLAHASSEE — You, the people of Florida, spoke loudly and clearly.
You said you wanted more of a say in choosing your elected leaders in open primaries, where a lot more voters could influence state elections.
That was 21 years ago.
It was 1998 when nearly two-thirds of voters (64 percent) passed Amendment 11, which unlocked the state’s system of closed primaries to allow all voters to cast a ballot in a primary if only one party offered candidates. The amendment passed in 53 counties — in Broward, it got 71 percent of the vote.
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Posted by Russell Daniels on January 07, 2019 at 1:16 PM
As Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) promised, the first piece of legislation in the 116th Congress was House Resolution 1, which includes a package of voting reforms.
It’s a smart move for the speaker. She recognizes the public appetite for reforming our broken political system. The American people have moved “unrigging the system” to the center of the political conversation and Congress has promised to respond. This is positive.
Read morePosted by Russell Daniels on January 07, 2019 at 1:08 PM
The 2020 presidential race has begun. Early speculation is that 20 Democrats may throw their hat in the ring and that John Kasich may challenge President Trump as an independent or in the GOP primary. The narrative will undoubtedly twist and turn between now and the New Hampshire primaries, just 12 months away.
Read morePosted by Russell Daniels on November 01, 2018 at 3:16 PM
President of Open Primaries, John Opdycke made an appearance on Fox and Friends to talk about what Independents are looking for in the 2018 midterms.
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Posted by Russell Daniels on October 09, 2018 at 2:47 PM
New Mexico’s two gubernatorial candidates aren’t closing the door on open primaries, and that’s good news given the high percentage of new voters who are registering as independents in our state.
Of the 43,434 newly registered voters from March 2017 through August of this year, 23,380 – or nearly 54 percent of those who registered – either declined to state a party affiliation or registered as a Libertarian or a minor party.
Overall, about 22 percent of the state’s voters are now declined-to-state voters, commonly referred to as independents.
Read morePosted by Russell Daniels on October 09, 2018 at 2:11 PM
America is experiencing a political crisis. The two major parties have moved so far from one another that neither is willing to work together anymore. Both are offering voters candidates who have no viable vision for our state or our country. These candidates focus their energies on misinformation, personal attacks, and extremist positions that only the most far-leaning supporters in each party demand.
Read morePosted by Jonathan Richter on June 19, 2018 at 10:02 AM
Throughout slavery, Reconstruction and the movement for civil rights, African Americans in the U.S. have faced racism, social disparities, and oppression. While things have advanced for us significantly, black Americans still encounter subtle and blatant social disenfranchisement.
For instance, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the people behind bars in the U.S. are disproportionately black. Chronic diseases like diabetes, arthritis, HIV, and cancer are more prevalent and diagnosed at later stages in the black community due to poverty and harmful social and environmental conditions.
Posted by Jonathan Richter on June 19, 2018 at 9:55 AM
Last month, leading up to California’s primary elections, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said “I hate the top-two” open primary system. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said California’s top-two system “is not a reform. It is terrible.” Their bipartisan response should tell you everything you need to know: Political parties hate top-two, so voters should love it.
We’re from different parties, we don’t agree on every issue, and we don’t bench-press the same amount — yet. But when it comes to California’s open primary system, where the two candidates who get the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of their political party, we see eye to eye: That current system, in place since 2012, works best because it puts the voters first.
Read morePosted by Jonathan Richter on June 08, 2018 at 9:59 AM
In Harrisburg, generally known as the Place Reform Goes to Die, there is now robust debate about two critical political reforms: 1) proposals to end gerrymandering by creating a more independent process by which to draw political maps, and 2) proposals to enact open primaries and allow the state’s 750,000 independent voters to participate in first-round elections.
Are these proposals a quick fix to all that ails our politics? Probably not. Are they worth doing? Absolutely. The status quo (closed primaries and gerrymandered districts) now go hand-in-glove to insulate politicians, reduce competition, and reinforce partisanship.
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