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Open Primaries Head to the Ballot in Colorado and Montana and to Court in Arkansas 

Colorado: Just yesterday, the Elections Division of the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office announced that proponents of Proposed Initiative #310 for Top 4 open primaries with RCV have submitted the required number of signatures to appear on the November 5, 2024 General Election Ballot.

The effort is being led by Colorado Voters First <[link removed]>.  A spokesperson for the campaign declared: “Our current system limits voter choices and gives too much power to political insiders and special interests. In November we can send the message that elections belong to voters — not political parties.”

In 2016, Colorado voters approved an initiative that established open party primaries and since then voter participation has skyrocketed. Independent voters are now the largest group of voters in the state.

To learn more about the effort and how to get involved click HERE <[link removed]>.

Montana: The Montana Secretary of State’s Office certified Constitutional Initiative 126 for the ballot. <[link removed]> The initiative would amend the state’s Constitution to require a Top 4 primary election for all statewide candidates, legislative candidates, and Montana’s federal delegation. 

The effort is being led by Montanans for Election Reform <[link removed]> which is building on the state’s historical commitment to fairness, a level playing field, and local control, when it comes to politics and elections. Montana has nonpartisan voter registration, open party primaries, and a unique system of county elections that allows each county to decide whether to hold partisan or nonpartisan elections. Initiative 126 hopes to build on that foundation.

To learn more about the effort and how to get involved click HERE <[link removed]>.

Arkansas: Last month, the Republican Party of Arkansas’ Executive Committee voted to declare the party’s state convention vote to approve a rule to close the primaries null and void. <[link removed]>

Now a new lawsuit has been filed in Federal Court <[link removed]> on behalf of the Republican Convention Chair challenging the State Republican Party Chair and the Secretary of State on their refusal to enforce a rule change. It seeks a declaratory judgment and asks the court to compel the defendants to adopt the change. 

The outcome of this decision could determine the future of open primaries in the state. 

We’ll keep you posted.



New Yorkers Speak Out for Reform

Primary elections in New York are held in public buildings, run on publicly owned-and-operated machines, by publicly paid election workers and administered by government agencies. The only thing not public about primary elections in New York is that more than 3 million members of the public who are independent voters are barred from them. And yet, more and more New Yorkers are deciding to become independent. Last year, Common Cause NY issued a report <[link removed]> exploring the state of NY’s independent voters. Now New Yorkers are speaking out. Watch the powerful conversations we had with voters in the Empire State:

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A survey from Students for Open Primaries <[link removed]> takes the pulse of American millennials and Gen Z voters with some startling findings about their political loyalties and prioritization of democracy reform.

Key Survey Findings:

- A supermajority of young people (65%) consider themselves independent.
- 69% of young people feel neither the Republican or Democratic Parties represent them.
- 80% of young voters believe elected leaders are more loyal to their party than their constituents.
- 80% of young people believe closed primaries are a problem impacting young voters.
- 85% of young voters think we need to reform the way we elect our leaders in America today and support a move to nonpartisan open primaries.

The full survey can be found HERE. <[link removed]>

Open Primaries has also released a new fact sheet <[link removed]> on young voters, their move to political independence and their support for open primaries.



ARIZONA:

The Make Elections Fair Campaign <[link removed]>’s challenge of a draft of the voter election guide was dismissed by the Arizona Supreme Court <[link removed]>. A trial court had ruled that the legislature’s description does not supply the proper context on voter ranking and renders the description misleading. But the Arizona Supreme Court disagreed.

IDAHO: 

The fight for open primaries is continuing to take center stage in the Idaho press as Measure 1 for Top 4 Open Primaries/RCV heads to the ballot in November.

Taylor Jenkins, a life-long independent voter from Nampa, forcefully makes the case why open primaries are a vote rights issue <[link removed]>. Meanwhile, former State Atorney General Jim Jones takes on many of the myths <[link removed]> driving the opposition’s campaign against the measure.

FLORIDA:

In dozens of Florida counties, as many as two thirds of Florida registered voters-independents and party voters alike-were shut out of the state’s recent primary election. It’s called the write-in loophole, and both parties have been exploiting it for years. Now the Sun Sentinel Editorial Baord is calling for reform. <[link removed]>

SOUTH DAKOTA:

96,000 South Dakotans have watched Let Us Vote’s video <[link removed]> showcasing the leaders of South Dakota Open Primaries <[link removed]> and the campaign for Amendment H for top two open primaries. 

TENNESSEE:

Rep. John Ragan of Oak Ridge, a state representative who lost his primary election this year, is blaming the state’s open primary for his loss and is calling it “immoral.” <[link removed]>  Now he’s calling on the state Repubican Party and the legislature to investigate <[link removed]> whether Democrats voted for his opponent. *Note that Tennessee has nonpartisan voter registration.

UTAH:

Last month, the Utah Supreme Court ruled against the state legislature in a landmark ruling prohibiting them from amending voter passed ballot initiatives. Just this week, the legislature called a special session and put a new initiative on the ballot this November <[link removed]>that would essentially block that ruling and put total power back in the hands of the legislature; essentially neutering the ballot initiative process in the state. 

WYOMING:

Lat year the state legislature changed voter registration laws to essentially close the state primaries. In the first primary election since, voter turnout dropped to a new low, with approximately 20% of registered voters deciding roughly 80% of the representation in the state capital. Now the Jackson Hole News <[link removed]> ands other state papers are calling for open primaries. 

NATIONAL: 

Independentvoting.org President Jackie Salit digs deep <[link removed]> into the end of RFK Jr’s independent bid for President and the future of the independent movement.

Also, in a nationally syndicated piece <[link removed]>, Tyler Fisher and Carlo Macomber discuss Unite America’s poll on independent voters <[link removed]> released earlier this year and what we can learn from them heading into the 2024 election. They end with a stark warning: 

Without reform, the major parties will likely continue to struggle to appeal to independents, and voters will continue to abandon the parties.



RSVP TO OUR NEXT PRIMARY BUZZ DISCUSSION:



Wednesday September 11th 2024 at 1pm EDT

<[link removed]>Bradley Tusk is an investor, political strategist, philanthropist, bookstore owner, podcaster, author and founder of MobileVoting.org (that’s quite a resume!). His latest book is Vote With Your Phone: Why Mobile Voting Is Our Final Shot at Saving Democracy. <[link removed]>

One key takeaway is that The only election that matters is the primary.

Tusk has a long history in politics, having served as campaign manager for Mike Bloomberg’s 2009 mayoral race, as Deputy Governor of Illinois, Communications Director for US Senator Chuck Schumer, and as an advisor for Andrew Yang's campaign in the 2021 New York City mayoral election.

He has also been the country’s foremost champion of mobile voting since 2017. “If the electorate is made up largely of partisan voters,” Tusk said in a recent interview, “we end up electing tendentious, uncompromising politicians who do not represent the will of the people. We’re completely polarized, and nothing gets done. I don’t see how democracy survives absent radically higher participation… The greatest threat to our democracy is that nobody votes.”

On Wednesday September 11th at 1pm EDT Open Primaries President John Opdycke will sit down with Tusk for a deep dive discussion into the intersection between technology, voter participation and the rules of the political game.

You don’t want to miss this discussion! Register today.

Have a great weekend,

The Open Primaries Team

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