<[link removed]>
Arizona Supreme Court Clears Final Legal Hurdle for Open Primaries Campaign
Just 31 days before the November 5th election, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in favor <[link removed]> of Make Elections Fair AZ’s Prop 140 <[link removed]>. Campaign Leader Chuck Coughlin on the win:
“We’re finally free from the courts and have the ability to free Arizonans from partisan primaries and put elections back in the hands of the voters.”
It’s full speed ahead for the AZ campaign now and the endorsements are flowing in-including:
- A ringing endorsement <[link removed]>from the largest paper in the state--The Arizona Republic
- Joe Smyth’s latest piece <[link removed]>: “Pass Prop 140 to improve Arizona politics.”
- Francis Wick’s syndicated piece <[link removed]> in GVNews (distributed throughout rural AZ)
US Voters, Activists and Leaders Set to Rally for Open Primaries Ahead of Historic Elections
<[link removed]>RSVP <[link removed]>2024 is a historic year for election reform. There are 8 open primary campaigns on the ballot across the country in 2024: <[link removed]>Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota and Washington D.C. The national open primaries has been working for years to build this kind of critical mass. It is the first time in US history that this many statewide primary reform initiatives have been offered up in the same election.
The rally is already generating a lot of buzz with hundreds of people registering in advance–check out coverage in IVN <[link removed]>and The Fulcrum <[link removed]>.
OP Senior VP Jeremy Gruber:
Attend the Virtual Open Primaries Rally on Monday, October 21st from 6pm to 7pm ET. Bring your friends, family and colleagues. Invite everyone you know to attend the rally. We promise you will walk away with a deep appreciation for the incredible work each of these campaigns has done to give voters a powerful way to impact our political system this November.
Forward Party Founder Andrew Yang and Open Primaries President John Opdycke are co-hosting and Unite America <[link removed]>, Forward Party <[link removed]>, Independent Voting <[link removed]>, Independent Voting Network <[link removed]>, Veterans for All Voters <[link removed]>, Electoral Innovation Lab <[link removed]> and Independent Veterans of America <[link removed]> are all co-sponsoring the event.
You will hear from campaign spokespeople and be able to directly engage with them and your fellow attendees in a lively open Q and A. We’ll watch inspiring videos from key campaign states and you will learn how you can help by making donations, sending letters, talking to friends, etc. Plus...a special guest or two?!
<[link removed]>RSVP <[link removed]>
New York Voters are Declaring their Independence in Record Numbers
According to the most recent registration data, 1 in 4 voters in New York state do not belong to a party. As the Times Union reports <[link removed]>:
“In 2020, it became the first year since 1961 that unaffiliated voters outnumbered Republican voters in New York, state Board of Elections data shows. That year there were about 5,000 more unaffiliated voters than Republicans across the state; as of this month that margin has surged to about 302,000 statewide”
The data shows that despite a recent dip in voters, every county in NY reported an increase in unaffiliated voters between the 2012 presidential election and this month.
ALASKA: Great new piece <[link removed]>out in the Anchorage Daily News that makes the case why Alaskans shouldn’t go back to the old way of doing things: “remember how impossible effective governance was under the old system, how bad the closed primary system was for representative government, and how little control we the electorate had in the decision-making process before we had open primaries and RCV.”
COLORADO: New Opinion piece: “With Proposition 131, open primaries can make Colorado’s gold-standard election system platinum.” <[link removed]>Amber McReynolds (Independent and Former Director of Elections for Denver) and Toni Larson (Two-time President of the League of Women Voters Colorado) have a new piece calling on Coloradans to embrace Prop 131:
FLORIDA: Another letter to the editor in Florida <[link removed]> calling out Florida’s backwards and fraudulent closed primary loophole and encouraging readers to vote NO on Amendment 1 which would create partisan primaries for local school board elections.
IDAHO: In a new piece out in the Idaho Statesman <[link removed]>, Rep. Russ Fulcher is on the record that he’s unwilling to debate in the leadup to the general election: “I’m not afraid to debate, but I’m not stupid either. They’re going to have to do their own campaigning.” In Idaho’s closed primary system there’s no incentive for Fulcher to debate or campaign–securing the primary is all he had to do which is why Idahoans for Open Primaries’ Yes on 1 campaign <[link removed]> could be a game-changer if it passes this November.
NEVADA: Question 3 (Open Primary + RCV system) passed 53% to 47% in 2022– it needs to pass once more this year to go into effect in 2026. Check out this helpful breakdown on Question 3 <[link removed]> in the Nevada Current on what Question 3 wants to achieve, why it’s time Nevada embraces nonpartisan elections and why the parties are resisting.
WASHINGTON DC: Chris Stirewal, contributing editor at The Dispatch and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote a new piece <[link removed]> on why Make Elections Count DC Initiative 83 is the reason he’ll be voting this year:
“Here’s a chance to vote for something that may itself help foster more dispassionate governance. The proposal is to open D.C.’s primary elections to independents, something useful in a one-party jurisdiction.”
National: Don't forget tocheck out Nick Troiano, ED of Unite America <[link removed]>, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe <[link removed]> this week as he offers a national perspective on the open primaries movement and what’s at stake this November.
Have a great weekend,
The Open Primaries Team
<[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]>Open Primaries · 244 Madison Ave, #1106, New York, NY 10016, United States
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