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Hi Friend,

 

Texas was the first state to hold their primary elections on Tuesday. For the
parties, the primary was a bit of a bellwether for what the rest of the year
might look like, and which wing of their respective parties might prove
triumphant. For us, it was the latest example of the primary problem, in which
partisan primaries and gerrymandered districts empower a small fraction of
voters to play an outsized role in determining the eventual winner of an
election.

 

ICYMI, we posted a blog ahead of Tuesday’s primary
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with everything we were watching out for, both in Texas, and nationally. We’ll
be tracking everything primary related (and #PrimaryProblem related) throughout
the year. More to come…

 

In the meantime, here are three things to think about this week.

Caustic cousins disenfranchising voters
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At play in Texas, and indeed across the country, are new legislative maps that
have even further split and divided communities for the benefit of the two
parties. The practice of gerrymandering further pushes the primary problem to
its extremes, giving significant power to the majority party’s base of
supporters that turnout in primary elections. 

 

In Real Clear Politics
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this week, Unite America’s Executive Director Nick Troiano writes about
partisan primaries driving this dysfunction, as Texas incumbents are primaried
by candidates to their extreme flanks. As Nick says, “While most attention this
midterm season will focus on the outcome of an albeit fewer number of
competitive congressional races, we must not lose sight of the fact that our
country’s future hinges not just on whom we elect – but how we elect.”

According to our team’s analysis, so far (with some votes still coming in, and
costly runoffs ahead)just 5% of all Texas voters cast primary ballots that will
effectively decide 95% of the state’s congressional elections. Follow along at
primaryproblem.us <[link removed]> as we track the partisan primary
season this year.



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S.O.S., for real
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It’s a topic we’ve written about before in these Things: across the country,
secretaries of state — the statewide elected position most commonly responsible
for overseeing and certifying elections — have come under attack, challenged by
conspiracy theorists who are undermining the integrity of the 2020 elections.
From Georgia to Arizona, individuals are running for secretary of state who
would attempt to overturn the results of an election, armed with disinformation
and empowered by the primary problem. 


This is one of the most immediate existential threats facing our Republic. If
our elections fall into the hands of conspiracy theorists and individuals who
are more loyal to a party or a man than they are to the people they are elected
to serve, we may never be able to regain the trust and integrity we need to
ensure our democratic systems work.Read the Washington Post’s full deep dive
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Big sky and nonpartisan primaries
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Finally, I turn your attention to Montana, where two former elected officials,
former Gov. Marc Racicot (R) and former Secretary of State Bob Brown (now an
independent, formerly a Republican) are pushing for the state to adopt
nonpartisan primaries in an effort to curb extremism. Pointing to similar
systems in Louisiana, Washington, and Alaska, Racicot and Brown argue that
nonpartisan primaries could give voters a greater chance to understand
candidates and select those whose values most closely line up with their own. 

 

As Brown argues, nonpartisan primaries “give more authority to the people and
take power away from political bosses” — a concept that legislators on both
sides would seemingly agree with. Read more about why these two legislators are
taking a step back into the spotlight to push for the reform and about why they
support ithere
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. 



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Brett
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Brett Maney
Senior Communications Manager
Unite America
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