Plus, NPR brilliantly covers the Primary Problem



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Hi Friend,



It’s an exciting week for us at Unite America and the Voters First movement.
That’s because many of us are currently in Los Angeles for theAmerican
Democracy Summit (ADS) <[link removed]>! The Summit is
the premiere right-left event to solve America’s political crisis. It’s a
chance for us to connect with other organizations and leaders in the movement,
hear from election reform champions, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Andrew
Yang, and Desmond Meade, and yes — even enjoy some live music and
entertainment. Unite America is also hosting and participating in a few
exciting panels here, which we’ll have more to report back on next time.



ADS couldn’t be happening at a more critical time. A recent Pew Research
Center report
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found that Americans’ feelings about our democracy and government are, well,
bleak. An overwhelming bipartisan majority — more than 80% — believes there’s
too much partisanship, too much money in politics, and too much special
interest influence. Nearly 75% say that, overall, our political system isn’t
working. While this polling is undoubtedly grim, it also represents an
incredible opportunity for structural reform. We’re proud to be part of this
movement to deliver all voters better choices and more power to hold elected
officials accountable.





How the Primary Problem is fueling a possible government shutdown
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Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Congress is on the brink of a shutdown.
If they can’t pass funding bills by midnight on Saturday, all “nonessential”
government functions must stop.NBC News
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has a nice brief explainer on the chain of events and potential impact.



The Primary Problem helps explain why we’re barreling toward a shutdown. At
the moment, a group of about eight Republican House members — who we’re calling
the “Chaos Caucus” — are preventing Speaker Kevin McCarthy from getting the
votes he needs to fund the government. Speaker McCarthy has an extremely narrow
majority in the House, and can only afford to lose four votes.



None of the eight members of the Chaos Caucus have competitive general
elections, so the only election that matters for them is the Republican
primary. We crunched the numbers: On average, they were effectively elected to
the U.S. House in partisan primaries by 12% of eligible voters in their
districts. Because the Chaos Caucus only has to worry about catering to this
tiny sliver of unrepresentative voters in partisan primaries, they’re unlikely
to face a political cost for taking this stand.



To fix these backward incentives, we need to abolish partisan primaries state
by state so that a tiny extreme minority isn’t able to bring our government to
the brink of a shutdown. And we’re seeing a lot of exciting momentum on that
front.
 


 


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Former governors boost campaigns for open and nonpartisan primaries in
Pennsylvania, Idaho
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Speaking of momentum, all five of Pennsylvania’s living former governors
recently endorsed ending the state’s closed primary system
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. Because of this restrictive system, over one million Pennsylvania voters are
banned from participating in primary elections that often determine the
outcome. Every Pennsylvania voter should be able to cast a ballot for any
candidate, regardless of party, in every taxpayer-funded election. Our partners
atBallot PA <[link removed]> are trying to do just that. They
introduced a bill in the 2022 session to repeal closed primaries, and are still
working to get it passed into law.



In similarly exciting news, former Idaho Gov. Butch Otter endorsed nonpartisan
primaries in his state
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. Otter headlines a list of more than 100 Idaho Republicans who support a
ballot initiative that would end Idaho’s closed primary system and replace it
with a top-four system, where all candidates of all parties would appear on the
ballot. Every eligible voter would have the freedom to cast a ballot for their
favorite, and the top four vote-getters would advance to the general election.
The group leading the effort, Idahoans for Open Primaries, has until May 1,
2024 to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.





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NPR’s picture-perfect story on the Primary Problem
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In perhaps the best story on the Primary Problem to date, I bring you the
following headline from NPR:The U.S. has a 'primary problem,' say advocates who
call for new election systems
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. The entire story brilliantly explains why our broken primary system is the
biggest solvable problem in politics today. It also details how states
including Alaska, California, Louisiana, and Washington are leading the charge
on solutions. Two of our partners were interviewed for the story — American
Enterprise Institute’s Kevin Kosar and Open Primaries’ Jeremy Gruber — and they
did a fantastic job.


This is an extremely encouraging sign that our movement’s message is starting
to sink in with national media. It’s well worth your time to read the piece,
listen to the radio segment, and listen to last week’sNPR Politics Podcast
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— which all covered the Primary Problem. Once you do that, share it with your
friends!
  


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Have a great weekend!



Ross
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Ross Sherman
Press Director, Unite America

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