Ballot PA Considers Litigation and Colorado Campaign One Step Closer to the Ballot

PENNSYLVANIA: 

Ballot PA just announced they’re considering launching a legal challenge to Pennsylvania’s closed primary election system. And they’re looking for help. 

So they’re asking PA voters currently registered as independent (potential plaintiffs) to join them for a virtual information session on Tuesday, August 6th at 6:30pm ET, featuring a very special guest: fellow independent, journalist and political commentator Michael Smerconish.

Smerconish is the host of both CNN’s and Sirius XM’s “Smerconish,” and is a prominent independent. They’ll explore how a closed primary system disenfranchises and unfairly targets independent and unaffiliated Pennsylvanians – and how a legal challenge could help put an end to it. 

If you’re an independent/unaffiliated PA voter register for the discussion HERE.

COLORADO:

Colorado voters are one step closer to the opportunity to vote for nonpartisan primaries as the Colorado Voters First Coalition submitted nearly 213,000 signatures yesterday to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office to qualify for the November ballot.

If passed, the initiative would establish nonpartisan top 4 primaries and ranked choice voting for state and federal offices.  Learn more and get involved in the campaign at VotersFirst.co. 

In 2022, Alaska enacted nonpartisan, top 4 open primaries. Now new research out in Political Research Quarterly digs deeper than ever before into the nuances of how the public perceives the system (generally favorable), but finding significant differences between Republicans, Democrats and independents. The authors suggest more research is needed to understand the effectiveness of different models in different parts of the country.

Read the full report HERE.

The Purple Principle Podcast released a great episode this week: How About Treating All Voters & Candidates the Same featuring Paul Johnson & Chuck Coughlin of Make Elections Fair AZ as part of their season-long nonpartisan election reform series.

“The very basis of our thinking is that if you're going to use taxpayer money to run an election. You have to treat every voter the same. You have to treat every candidate the same. I mean, that is a principle part of our American jurisprudence and the way we govern ourselves.”

–Chuck Coughlin, Make Elections Fair AZ

Listen to the episode as Chuck and Paul share the data behind their approach to election reform. Listen here:

In the wake of President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race, Let Us Vote ran a survey to supporters to find out how independents are currently feeling. They found: 

• Independent voters largely supported either a flash or quickly recapitulated primary process, or an open convention.
•  A small minority expressed support for a direct transition to Kamala Harris’s campaign. 
• Some expressed concern that the Democratic Convention as currently conceived is unlikely to be a truly open process, and party leaders will force, exclude or otherwise convince potential challengers to drop out of the race. 

Most compelling was their actual words and feelings: 

“Hold a debate and a democratic vote across the country. This a rare moment and needs to be handled properly and fairly.” 

“Let the citizens decide with a separate vote.” 

“I think there should be a mini-primary, but if potential candidates fear the powers that be in the Democratic party, at least there should be debates between the people looking to become vice president. Let the delegates vote between those who have gotten a thumbs up from the vetting committee. In this instance, the choice should not be that of the coronated presidential candidate.”

“If the Democrats want to earn trust and be democratic, they should do an open convention, and have at least 5 different potential candidates compete at an Open Convention to get a strong, consesus winner.” 

Will Conway, Campaign Director for Let Us Vote: 

“Independent voters are critical to any presidential campaign, let alone a campaign that begins just four months before the general election. The most effective way to win their votes? Listen to them. Include independents in the process. Independent voters now represent 51% of the voting population. Any process that excludes us is undemocratic on its face. We matter, and we expect to be listened to.”

ALASKA: Get Out the Native Vote, a statewide nonprofit voter education organization based out of Anchorage under the Cook Inlet Tribal Council took a look at how the Native community is responding to top 4 which found “that voters in predominantly Alaska Native communities were far more likely to vote for a slate of candidates in the open primary that would not have been possible under the previous, partisan system.” 

ARIZONA: Good news for the Make Elections Fair AZ campaign! Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has weighed in, opposing lawmakers who want to alter the wording of the upcoming open primary initiative on the Arizona ballot to negatively influence voters: “The attorney general believes it is critically important for Arizonans to receive fair and impartial descriptions of ballot measures. These briefs were filed in support of that goal.”

ARKANSAS: In a small step forward for voting rights, the Republican Party of Arkansas’ Executive Committee voted to declare the party’s state convention vote to approve a rule in June to close the primaries null and void. Arkansas has nonpartisan voter registration and open primaries and the convention vote was believed to be the first step in a process to change voting rules when the legislature goes back in session in 2025.

IDAHO: Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane is preparing for the open primaries/ ranked-choice voting ballot initiative to appear on Idaho’s Nov. 5 election ballots, even as Attorney General Raúl Labrador advances a lawsuit attempting to block the initiative: “That’s why we are here, to defend the initiative process and the Constitutional right of Idaho citizens to exercise the initiative. It is not about the contents of the initiative. It is about, this is a right and we are overseeing the process.”

REGISTER FOR THE NEXT PRIMARY BUZZ DISCUSSION: 

Change the Incentives, Change the Game - with Chloe Akers

On Tuesday August 13th at 3PM ET John Opdycke will talk with Chloe Akers–Founder and CEO of The Best of Tennessee, a nonprofit focused on educating voters about the importance of participating in primary elections, about her efforts to “restore complexity” to Tennessee politics.  

Akers just wrote a new piece in The Tennessean encouraging Tennessee voters to get out and vote in the primaries, despite efforts by partisan hacks to intimidate people - see the sign below threatening prosecution for voting in primaries! 

Chloe is a leader who believes strongly that the vast majority of Tennessee voters want smart solutions to the complex issues facing the state. Several years ago, together with a broad group of Tennessee leaders, she launched The The Liminal Plan, an organization designed to promote policy solutions to divisive issues. However, she soon realized that no amount of issue advocacy would move the needle without changing the incentives policymakers face. As long as most political competition occurs in the primaries and only a small proportion of the overall electorate votes in them, elected leaders will largely cater to the priorities of activists and ideologues rather than the concerns of Tennessee voters. Building on what The Liminal Plan started, the organization grew into Best of Tennessee.

A fifth-generation East Tennessean, Chloe is deeply committed to issues of representation and fairness.  She uses the skills she honed as a trial lawyer, taking a diligent, patient, and detail-oriented approach to finding rational solutions to complex challenges.

You don’t want to miss this timely conversation.