Tuesday, November 30, 2010

What is an Open Primary?

Thanks to The Ballot Access News for this post.

The United States have no consistent definition of “open primary”. The term means something different in almost every state.

In Pennsylvania: “open primary” means a closed primary in which the party organization makes no endorsement.

In Illinois: has never asked voters to choose a party when they fill out voter registration forms. Illinois primary rules require voters at the polls on primary day to publicly ask for one party’s primary ballot.

In California: “open primary” means a top-two system starting in 2011.

In Florida: “open primary” means a blanket primary.

In Kentucky: “open primary” means a closed primary in which independents can choose any party’s primary to vote in.

I believe in the pure open primary where all candidates are on one primary ballot with the option of displaying the logo of their party, declare as an Independent, declare no party, and the logo of endorsement with the top two going to the general election is the fairest change to the current systems. This would still give the parties the ability to have their preferred selection method but also allow other party candidates to get into the game. The biggest question would be how write-in votes would be countered.

What system do you like?

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Monday, November 29, 2010

First Family, Abigail and John Adams

I am reading First Family by Joseph J. Ellis. Abigal and John Adams left an remarkably preserved portrait of their lives together in their personal correspondence and over the years they exchanged more than twelve hundred letters.

These stand out as I get into our history.

John – June & July 1763, He publishes his first known newspaper pieces, signed "Humphrey Ploughjogger" and "U," in the Boston Evening Post and Boston Gazette. – these essays were moral lectures on the evils of political factions and partisanship and were distinctive in their style, which attempted to mimic the voice of a quasi-literate farmer with a down-home sense of humor and a rustic kind of wisdom.

Abigail – 1776 Code of Laws, “The new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, desire you will remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power in the hands of husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

“But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things that are very hard, and notwithstanding all your wise laws and maxims, we have it in our powers, not only to free ourselves, but to subdue our masters, and, without violence, throw your natural and legal authority at your feet.”

In addition to the rights of women, she spoke about slavery as well as the property qualification to vote must be ended if America’s revolutionary agenda was to be applied consistently.

A couple in the right place at the right time to really make a difference.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Parties, Movements, Independents, and what’s next?

To talk about what is next, we need to look at what has recently past.

Goodbye Two-Party System - Name a problem — poverty, war, out-of-control spending. The political parties offer themselves as the solution to all of the above, and more. We respond by voting for first one party, then the other, and then back again. We want to let the world know we are unhappy, but we haven’t yet developed the creative capacity to rearrange the world around us.

This seemingly eternal passivity is the mother’s milk of political partyism. No wonder the Republicans and Democrats and their auxiliaries — the tea parties, the unions, the media — must whip us into a frenzy. Whether we are Foxites, MSNBCists, bloggers or bored stiff, we’re now implored daily to get out to vote. Why? Not because voting develops our capacity to move the country forward. But because we must put one, or the other, or both, political parties in power — even though separately and together, they brought us to this anxious and crummy place.

This is American politics 101. The cure for whatever ails us is . . . more of the same. Public health advocates tell cautionary tales about diabetics who drink soda, people with high cholesterol who eat burgers and fries, and daughters of breast cancer victims who take hormones. But somehow, no one ever informs us that political parties — and the partisanship they spawn — have clogged our national arteries, fried our national brains and compromised the entire body politic.

But Americans are starting to move beyond the parties, even beyond partyism. That’s the dynamic story unfolding on the edges of the midterm battleground. And if that motion is cultivated by truly nonpartisan innovators, the political parties will have a comeuppance sooner than you might think. Contrary to what some analysts argue — that America is ripe for a third party — the direction Americans are really heading is away from parties’ altogether.”

Jacqueline Salit is president of IndependentVoting.org, a national association of independent voters and the Executive Editor of THE NEO-INDEPENDENT magazine.
____________________________________________

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says an unaffiliated candidate can’t win the presidency. Bloomberg told reporters that the very best an independent candidate could hope for was an electoral-vote tie, which would give final say to the House, which the GOP recaptured this month. “Party affiliation is so strong with enough people that the Republicans and Democrats — no matter who their candidates were — would get enough votes — that you could get the from independent vote, it would still not be a majority,” he said.

____________________________________________

From Ballot Access News — the twenty nine states with registration by party, plus the District of Columbia, reported in October and November 2010 that 73.5% of all voters are registered Democrats or Republicans. This is the lowest percentage for the two major parties since before 1980, and probably the lowest ever. In Alaska the Democrats and Republicans have a combined total of 41% of registered voters, meaning 59% of Alaska voters have chosen other options.
____________________________________________

Write-in votes – Lisa Murkowski is close to becoming the second Senator to win a write-in vote to be re-elected as the Senator from Alaska after losing the Republican primary.
____________________________________________

Each of these events point to the beginning of a new political process, but where will it go?

I agree with Mayor Bloomberg that an independent will have a difficult time to become President without support of Congressional members and the current winner-take-all electoral votes. I also agree with Ms. Salit that the two party political system is losing its hold with registered votes who are now split three-ways between the two major parties, and minor parties and independents.

I have worked on all three of Mayor Bloomberg's campaigns and with Ms. Salit since 2001 to encourage these structural political reforms.

You Can't Change the Political Game Unless You Change the Political Rules
The following are a set of political reforms favored by many independent voters that address the institutional barriers to their participation and to greater democracy.

Open Primaries
This was the year of the Open Primary. Independents flocked to vote in the primaries and established that they are an engine for a new politic. Support for open primaries is very high among independents. Polling puts it consistently at above 90%. Consequently, independents would value efforts to further institutionalize this practice. Open Primaries is a general category which has taken a number of different forms. Whatever the approach taken, open primaries would allow some 40% of American voters to participate in the critical first round of elections for public office from which closed primaries bar them. Moreover, as this year’s presidential primaries demonstrate, open primaries maximize the influence of younger voters, anti-machine voters and voters more open to change. Thirty-three states have some form of open primaries (or caucuses) at the presidential level. Only a handful has them for other federal or for state offices (though many cities have nonpartisan municipal elections, including 60 out of 75 of the nation’s largest cities as of 1991).

I believe the pure open primary where all candidates are on one primary ballot with the option of displaying the logo of their party and the logo of endorsement with the top two going to the general election is the fairest change to the current systems. This would still give the parties to ability to have their preferred selection method but also allow other party candidates to get into the game. The biggest question would be how write-in votes would be countered.

Election Administration Reform
In almost all of the states elections are run by either the Secretary of State (elected as a Democrat or a Republican) or by a bipartisan Board of Elections. The Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) is bipartisan. Independents have no representation at any level. Partisan election administration can undermine the integrity of the process and hurts independents in a number of ways. Consideration must now be given to equal representation on the bodies that administer elections and/or to a system of nonpartisan (as opposed to bipartisan) election administration.

Initiative and Referendum
Partisan gridlock in Washington and in many state legislatures has made policy innovation or even sound policy making a rarity. Initiative and referendum, in which citizens can directly legislate, is an effective way to break through. The open primary legislation in Washington State was passed by referendum. In Ohio, drug law reform was achieved by I&R. Some complain that I&R allows the wealthy or the right wing to control the legislative agenda. However, this presidential season – and the Obama campaign in particular – has demonstrated that an inspired citizenry will financially and politically support efforts to bring about much needed progressive change. For independents, referenda are a level playing field, an arena where their votes are as effective as those of major party members. Their power is not diluted by exclusion from party primaries or by the partisan organization of legislative bodies and committees.

States have historically functioned as laboratories of reform. I&R, now legal in 27 states in some form or fashion, contributes to this. It may even provide a model for a system of national referendum, a process that could directly engage the citizenry and build a culture of national conversation. Every voter in every state should have access to the I&R process.

Redistricting Reform
In some states the dominant political party has used redistricting to minimize the possibility for electoral success of the other major party. In other states the two major parties have used it to preserve the electoral and legislative status quo. In either case, redistricting has meant the construction of “safe districts” for either Democrats or Republicans. This necessarily means blunting opportunities for new alliances to emerge in the context of congressional and other legislative elections. It also virtually rules out competition from independent forces. The redistricting process should be nonpartisan and administered in a way that the voting power of independents is not diluted.

Ballot Access Reform
Discrimination against independent and minor party candidates must be eliminated. Ballot access reform bills that establish uniform ballot requirements in federal elections have languished in Congress since 1985. There is no reason not to level the playing field for all candidates for public office.

Direct Elections for the Presidency
Despite lip service by some Democratic Party leaders, a move towards abolition of the Electoral College has not been seriously undertaken. As a result, in a general election for president, the solid “red” and “blue” states are often ignored because their outcomes are predetermined. This is unfair, not only to independents, but to all voters in such states. Every American’s vote should count. Another approach worth considering would be to have electoral votes in each state awarded in proportion to the popular vote. This practice was adopted in Maine.

Same Day Voter Registration
A maze of state by state regulations govern the voter registration process, including cut-off dates, waiting periods, “locked boxes,” etc. Legislators often object to SDVR because, they say, if you don’t know who your eligible electorate is, you won’t know who to mail your campaign literature to. The practice of restricting voter registration supports the incumbents, but not the voter, and certainly not potential new voters. In some states, the “cut-off” date precedes the moment in the election cycle when voters start to pay attention to the choices. This is particularly true for younger voters. Given the advances in technology, there is no reason that voters should not be permitted to register on Election Day itself. What’s more, voters should have the right to re-register at the polling place after they have cast a ballot. This is the practice in New Hampshire, and it’s been vital to the state’s independents – 44% of the electorate. Recently, legislators tried to deprive them of that right and independents fought back and won – twice.

In New York we are working on Non Partisan Municipal Elections. We failed to get the Charter Revision Commission to put it on the 2010 ballot but I think it received enough support that another Commission could agree to give it a chance with the voters. But this time we need to spell out in more detail on how it could work and not affect the existing parties.

Let me know what you think our political future looks like.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Friday, November 12, 2010

Americans Elect 2012



Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

In 2006, a group of seasoned campaign professionals, including both Republicans and Democrats, proposed to create a “third force” in the 2008 presidential election which would be centrist. The group called itself Unity08, and proposed an on-line “national presidential primary” to choose an independent presidential candidate, who might very well be a member of one of the two major parties, but who would run in the general election independently of the two major parties. The rules also said that the vice-presidential nominee should not be of the same party affiliation as the group’s presidential nominee.

The group proposed to handle ballot access for its future ticket by qualifying Unity08 as a qualified party in most of the states. The group actually qualified itself as a party in Florida and Mississippi, but made no further headway because the Federal Election Commission ruled that no one could give Unity08 more than $5,000. This made it impossible for the group to raise enough money to carry on more ballot access work. That hostile FEC ruling was upheld by a U.S. District Court on October 16, 2008, but it was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, on March 2, 2010. Now some of the founders of Unity08, along with new backers, plans to put the plan into operation for 2012.

I was a member of Unity08. To find out move use the abover link.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Thursday, November 11, 2010

The ELEVENTH ANNUAL ANTI-CORRUPTION AWARDS










































































If you are in NY, please join us for this event. I was honored to receive a award during the 9th event.

Use the above link to find out how to attend.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

NYC Voter Survey

This is from the New York City Council.

As part of the New York City Council’s oversight of the New York City Board of Elections, Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Governmental Operations Chair Gale A. Brewer, and good government advocates announced results of the Council’s nonpartisan Election Day survey. Surveyed voters most frequently cited issues of ballot design, font size, and lack of privacy among the problems encountered on Election Day. Nearly 1,200 New Yorkers from at least 300 different poll sites across the five boroughs completed the Council’s online, anonymous voter experience survey.

BALLOT DESIGN AND FONT SIZE
Results from this informal survey and comments provided by voters indicate that ballot design and font size was a significant problem for surveyed voters. When asked if the ballot was “difficult to read or confusing” over a third of the sample voters responded yes. A significant number of surveyed voters elaborated on the ballot design and font size in the comments field stating:

“Between the low light and tiny print, the ballot was almost unreadable. I didn't have my reading glasses with me, so I hope I marked it correctly.” Washington Heights

“The print on the ballot was terrible. It was too small. It looked like the telephone book and having the magnifier there added insult to injury.” Jackson Heights

“The print is too small. I felt like I was taking an Eye Exam!” Sheepshead Bay

“The ballot text was very small. I had difficulty squinting just to make out the names, it almost made me get a headache. I nearly gave up voting right away.” Woodhaven

“Writing is too small and appears jumbled. [The ballot] will definitely prove difficult for many.” Port Richmond

“The text is too small and the spacing/organization of the information is not clear and reader friendly and can cause some confusion and frustration.” Harlem

In the case that any voter has difficulties reading or marking the ballot, poll workers are trained to instruct voters to use a Ballot Marking Device (BMD). These machines allow voters with disabilities to vote privately and independently and can also be helpful for any voter who may otherwise have trouble reading or making their ballot. When asked if a poll worker suggested using a Ballot Marking Device, over a quarter of surveyed voters said that they were not made aware of the BMDs.

“Poll workers were explaining the actual ballot measures, not simply explaining how to mark the paper for whatever choice the voter made. BMD was not mentioned as option even though many voters could not read the ballot whose print was so tiny.” Woodside

“My wife helped me with my ballot. The BMD would have been a great help.” Middle Village

“Not only was I not advised of the BMD, when I indicated that I wanted to use the device, the poll worker said to me "you don't really want to use that, do you?"” Bedford-Stuyvesant

VOTER PRIVACY
Surveyed voters also provided many comments about lack of privacy at the polls. Specifically, privacy issues ranged from poll workers not offering privacy sleeves to poll workers handling voter’ ballots without their consent. When asked if poll workers offered privacy sleeves or folders to keep ballots private, nearly a quarter of those surveyed said no.

“Privacy sleeves were available for usage but were not offered (had to look for them). . . . Also I had to ask the poll worker to give me privacy at the scanner.” Chinatown

“There was no privacy. Almost everyone who voted when I was at the polling place required help, exposing what should be a confidential vote to the inspection of poll workers.” Stuyvesant Town

“It seemed weirdly open, exposed. I didn't ask for assistance or a "sleeve" but I would have if I'd known it was available. I felt uncomfortable walking over to the scanner and holding my votes, which were clearly visible to my neighbors. And having the person there to help with the scanner was necessary, but I felt exposed then too.” Chelsea

“I was concerned with the lack of privacy at a variety of stages in the voting process. To begin with, the “privacy booths” were so close together that I could have looked over my any of my neighbor’s shoulders to see who/what they voted for. Once I completed the voting form, even though I had the “privacy form” there was no way to protect my privacy as I placed my voting form into the electronic voting machine. Especially because there was a monitor right next to the machine “assisting” me, even though I didn’t ask for assistance.” Wakefield

“I was very uncomfortable with carrying my ballot around with my votes exposed. No one offered a privacy sleeve, and even if they had, I still had to put my ballot into the scanner face up with the votes visible to those around me.” Tribeca

“The new machines would be fine if privacy was ensured. After asking the poll worker not to look at my ballot she still insisted on looking at it to see if I filled it in properly after it had an error message instead of simply allowing me to retry. It seems like this is not the best new solution and there should be a more clear and productive way to vote in this City.” Upper East Side

ABOUT THE VOTER SURVEY
Over 100 volunteers from the City Council and good government organizations including New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG); Citizens Union; League of Women Voters; and the Center for the Independence of the Disabled as well as Make the Road New York informally surveyed voters on their voting experience as they exited their poll sites. Volunteers then entered results into an online survey tool. Additionally, New Yorkers who called 311 with problems at the polls were also directed to the City Council’s survey, which was published on both the city’s website (www.nyc.gov) and the 311 website (www.nyc.gov/311).

The City Council intends to utilize survey responses as part of its November oversight hearing on the performance of the Board of Elections at the General Election and will also share the survey data with the Board of Elections.

The survey questions covered the spectrum of voting difficulties that occurred during the Primary Election, ranging from voting equipment malfunctions and late poll site openings, to inadequately trained poll workers and lack of privacy when casting ballots. At the Council’s Primary Day oversight hearing in September, the Board stated that problems would be corrected in time for the general election.

Since Primary Day, Speaker Quinn and Chair Brewer have sent multiple letters to the Board of Elections requesting that the agency develop stronger measures to evaluate poll site performance. Speaker Quinn and Chair Brewer also sent a letter to the Board’s commissioners last week urging them to conduct a public, nation-wide search for its next Executive Director.

We still have problems with the State Board of Elections on how the machines were programmed. Without Independents on the board, there is not enough input to catch, correct, and reject bad decisions made by the Democrats and Republicans who make up the Board.

Use the above link to read the entire survey results.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Monday, November 8, 2010

Independent Candidates 2010 Results

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

It appears more states elected independents to state legislatures this year than in at least sixty years. Independents were elected to state legislators in 2010 in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Vermont. We are still waiting to see if one was elected in Colorado. Louisiana and Virginia also have independent state legislators, but those two states didn’t have legislative elections this year.

Alabama
Voters elected Harri Anne Smith to the State Senate as an independent candidate. She defeated her only opponent, a Republican, by a margin of 55.2%-44.8%. She was the incumbent in the 29th district. The Republican Party had refused to let her file in this year’s Republican primary, because she had endorsed a Democrat for Congress in 2008. So, she ran as an independent, and became the first independent elected to the Alabama legislature since 1983.

Georgia
Rusty Kidd, the only independent state legislator, was re-elected. He faced one opponent, a Democrat. Kidd won 57.3%-42.7%. Kidd was the only independent who was able to qualify for either house of the Georgia legislature by petition this year.

Kentucky
Voters of State Senate district 2, centered on Paducah, re-elected independent State Senator Bob Leeper. Leeper was first elected to the State Senate in 1990 as a Democrat, and re-elected as as Democrat in 1994 and 1998. However, then he became a Republican and won as a Republican in 2002. Then, he became an independent and was re-elected as an independent in 2006, and now he has again won re-election as an independent.

North Carolina
Bert Jones was elected to the State House of Representatives. He defeated an incumbent in a two-person race by a margin of 56.1% – 43.9%. Jones is a dentist who was formerly a Republican, but who left the party because he did not believe the Republican Party is sincerely interested in reducing the size of government. He was elected in the 65th district.

Rhode Island
The voters of 17th State Senate district re-elected independent Senator Edward J. O’Neill to the State Senate. He defeated his only opponent, Democrat Linda Noble, by 54.5%-45.5. O'Neill had also been elected as an independent in 2008. When he was elected in 2008, he had been the first independent elected to the Rhode Island State Senate since 1964.

South Dakota
Voters in the 15th state legislative district elected Jenna Haggar to the House. She is a registered independent, and is only 24 years old. She defeated an incumbent Democratic state representative. Haggar is the first independent elected to the South Dakota house since 1994, although South Dakota voters had elected an independent to the State Senate in 2008. However, the State Senate independent elected in 2008, Tom Dempster, was actually a registered Republican who had accidentally failed to qualify for his party’s primary ballot, so he had then petitioned as an independent.

Tennessee
Voters of the 4th state house district re-elected Kent Williams as an independent candidate. He is the first person to win an election to the Tennessee legislature as an independent since 1982. He had been re-elected as a Republican in 2008. But in early 2009, when the state house was virtually tied, all the Democrats in the House had voted for Williams to be Speaker. With the votes of all the Democrats, and his own vote, Williams was elected Speaker, but then he was expelled from the Republican Party, so in 2010 he ran for re-election as an independent.

Wisconsin
Voters in the 25th Assembly district elected Bob Ziegelbauer to the legislature as an independent in a 3-way race. Ziegelbauer polled approximately 50%; the Democratic nominee polled approximately 35%; and the Republican nominee polled approximately 15%. Ziegelbauer had been in the legislature as a Democrat since 1992. He became an independent because he opposes any tax increase in 2011. Ziegelbauer also serves as the elected County Executive of Manitowoc County.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Friday, November 5, 2010

NY Party Shuffle

In NY a party needs 50,000 votes for Governor to get ballot status. Then the total vote determines your position on the ballot. With the Democrats and Republicans getting the top two positions, the next positions are very important.

A review of the 2010 NY vote as of last night came up with these numbers:

Conservative – 145,724
IP – 117,053
WFP – 108,886
GREEN – 57,703

These include NYC and 21 counties out of 57 that broke down the numbers by parties.

What hurt the IPNY was a rejection upstate to the State Chairman’s actions the last couple of years and downstate to a mixed message and voters selecting the WFP and not IP for Cuomo.

It could take till the end of November before all the votes are counted.

Update

The current number as of 11/8 is:

WFP - 138,615
IP - 136,581

In 2006 the numbers were:

IP – 190,661
Conservative – 168,654
WFP – 158,184

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Acorn files for bankruptcy

Beleaguered community organizing group Acorn filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Tuesday, marking the end of a tumultuous two-year period in which attacks by conservatives and its own missteps proved too much to overcome. Seven different Acorn entities made Chapter 7 filings Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Brooklyn.

Use the above link to read the entire article By Daniel Massey on Crain's New York Business.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Political Parties Qualified Status

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this numbers for this post.

Here is a partial rundown on whether various minor parties in various states either gained, kept, or lost qualified status, as a result of votes cast on 11/2/2010.

Alabama
The Constitution Party was on the ballot in one U.S. House district but did not poll 20% of the vote, it only got 17%, so it did not gain qualified status in that district.

Arkansas
The Green Party did not poll as much as 3% for Governor, so has lost the status it gained earlier this year with its petition drive.

California
All the qualified parties retained their qualified status. These include American Independent, Green, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom.

Colorado
The Constitution Party is now a qualified major party, meaning it will appear on either the top line or the second line on the ballot, and will nominate by primary instead of convention. The Republican Party polled 11% for Governor so maintains its status as a qualified major party.

Connecticut
The Independent Party is now ballot-qualified for both Governor and U.S. Senator. In Connecticut, parties have qualified status on an office-by-office basis, although if they poll 20% for Governor they have qualified status for all offices in the state. The Connecticut for Lieberman Party lost its qualified status for U.S. Senate. The Working Families Party gained it for all the statewide offices, except that it still doesn’t have it for President.

Illinois
The Green Party lost its qualified status. The Libertarian Party tried but did not win qualified status.

Maryland
The Libertarian, Green, and Constitution Parties all polled less than 1% for Governor, so they lost the qualified status that they had gained earlier with a petition drive.

Massachusetts
The Green Party gained qualified status, and the Libertarian Party lost it.

Minnesota
The Green Party did not poll as much as 5% for any statewide race, so did not gain qualified status.

Missouri
Both the Constitution and the Libertarian Parties polled over 2% for U.S. Senate, so both parties now have ballot status for 2014 as well as 2012.

Nebraska
The Libertarian Party polled 20.2% for Auditor in a two-person race, and thus it is a qualified party in 2012.

Nevada
The Green Party did not poll as much as 1% for Governor, so did not gain qualified status.

New Hampshire
The Libertarian Party did not poll as much as 4% for either Governor or U.S. Senator, so did not gain qualified status.

New York
The Green Party gained qualified statusby getting over 50,000 votes for Governor. It is still too early to tell if the other minor parties gained or maintained it. NY is a fusion state and the results are a combined number and it will take awhile until all the votes are counted and the party breakdown is posted.

North Dakota
The Libertarian Party lost qualified status because it didn’t run for Secretary of State, the only office that determines party status in a midterm year. Even if it had, it would have needed 5%, and none of the other statewide Libertarians this year polled more than 3.7%.

Ohio
The law requires parties to poll 5% for Governor to remain ballot-qualified in midterm years, and no minor party met that test. However, because the election law regulating how parties get on the ballot is unconstitutional, the state has recognized the Libertarian, Constitution, Green and Socialist Parties ever since 2008. The new Ohio legislature has Republican majorities in both houses, and Ohio now has a Republican Governor, so it will be up to the Republican Party in the 2011 legislative session to write a new law, and that new law may improve the vote test.

Oregon
The Progressive Party maintained qualified status by its vote for Treasurer. The Working Families maintained qualified status by its vote for U.S. Senate, as did the Constitution Party. The Libertarian Party has enough registrations that it didn’t need to worry about the vote test, but it also passed the vote test. The Independent Party has enough voter registrations to remain qualified. The Green Party did not run any statewide candidates, and will go off the ballot in August 2012 if it doesn’t increase its registration to approximately 12,900 voters. Currently it has 8,772.

Rhode Island
The Moderate Party polled over 5% for Governor, so maintains its qualified status for the first time.

South Dakota
The Constitution Party lost its status because it didn’t run for Governor, because of the restrictive ballot access law for a candidate getting on the party’s own primary ballot. Governor is the only race that counts, and requires 2.5%. The Constitution Party was on the ballot for Secretary of State (because parties are permitted to nominate by convention for that office) and polled 6%.

Texas
The Libertarian Party polled over 2% for Governor, so it not only retains qualified status for 2012, but 2014 as well. The Green Party kept qualified status but only for 2012, not 2014.

Utah
The Libertarian Party needs to poll a number of votes for any candidate that equals 2% of the total vote cast in the state for U.S. House. The tentative election returns show the party nominee for Utah County Attorney has 11,603 votes and needs 11,613. The party nominee for Governor has almost as many. This is too close to call. The Constitution Party easily retained its spot on the ballot by polling over 5% for U.S. Senate.

Washington
Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party lost their status because neither had a statewide nominee on the ballot for U.S. Senate. State law requires parties to poll 5% for any statewide nominee, but in 2010, neither party had any nominees for any partisan office, because the “top-two” law says parties only have nominees for President. This development had been expected.

Wisconsin
The Constitution Party gained qualified status, by polling over 1% for U.S. Senate. The Libertarian Party and the Green Party each went off the ballot. Greens didn’t run any statewide races, and Libertarians only ran a joint ticket of no one for Governor and someone for Lieutenant Governor, which did not poll 1%.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Monday, November 1, 2010

Write Your Letter to President Obama Today

"Write whatever you want." Jackie Salit made an appeal on Independentvoting.org's most recent conference call to write a letter to President Obama. To recap, here's what she said:

"What do independents have to say to Obama? That's a good question, because there are many things to say. For one thing, we might want to say to him -- We are here!. But he knows that. We might want to say to him, President Obama, We mean you no harm but we will press ahead to build our movement and pursue the structural reforms that will create more uncertainty for your party and for the Republican Party and you may not like that. And/or we might want to let him know that many Americans have come to believe that reform of any kind -- education reform, Wall Street reform, energy reform, immigration reform -- is not possible without political reform and that is what we, the independents are doing.

Let Obama know that there is a movement growing from the bottom up that does not equate a bi-partisanship with non-partisanship, and that we want independents to be included in the process at every level and at every step along the way. We are Americans concerned not with party control, but with the development of our country."

So I wrote a letter:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

I have been an independent voter since 1966 who voted for you in the 2008 election. Your message of transparency and a change in the culture in Washington resonated with me. I am also a political activist supporting a national strategy for the growing independent movement. My work from NY puts me in touch with independent voters all over the country. We are a non-party, non-ideological, pro reform movement of Americans. We're 40% of our nation.

You are president today because of independent voters. We understand the partisan pulls on you, but Americans want real change. Independents are deeply disturbed by what the insiders: the parties and special interests are doing to our country. Independents recognize that change will only come from the outside in. That's why we are going to continue to push for political reforms that can shake up party domination. Independents want open primaries where voters can vote for the candidate and not the party. We want nonpartisan redistricting reform, nonpartisan elections, and nonpartisan election administrations including appointing an independent to the Federal Elections Commission. In other words, we want policies that support the people, not the parties. The parties make progress impossible.

While most of us were not under the illusion that radical change could happen overnight and recognized that there are deep structural issues which pervade our political process. We hoped that we had a president who, because of how you campaigned and were elected, saw that to develop this country effectively and change political culture in Washington, you'd have to go outside of the box and strengthen your connection with outside forces, in particular with independents. By doing so, you make a statement about the kind of America you are fighting for - one that is inclusive of all people.


Use the above link to write your letter to the President and explain why you are an independent and what changes you want.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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