Open Primaries

Disclaimer: Chad Peace is an attorney for the Independent Voter Project and represents 6 of the individual plaintiffs in this case.

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SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - If we said that citizens have religious freedom, as long as they joined a state-sanctioned church, that argument would roundly be dismissed as absurd. But when it comes to the right to vote in California’s presidential primary, that is exactly the argument of the state of California.

ORLANDO, FLA. - Amendment 3 in Florida, the ballot measure that would adopt nonpartisan top-two open primaries for state executive and legislative elections, received a major endorsement from the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday. The newspaper focused on the point that Amendment 3 is opposed by both major parties and that alone is ample reason to support the amendment.

Editor's Note: This op-ed originally appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel and has been republished in its entirety with permission from the author.

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This November, Florida voters have the chance to expand the voting rights of all registered voters by supporting “All Voters Vote” — Amendment 3.

There is growing consensus among pro-voter reformers that when we discuss comprehensive solutions to provide voters with better elections, primary election reform has to be a part of the conversation. 

As it stands, millions of voters nationwide have no meaningful voice in the elections process because taxpayer-funded partisan primary elections are designed to explicitly give an advantage to the two dominant political parties and their members.

Nebraska, landlocked deep in America’s heartland, has paradoxically set itself apart as an anomaly in the US political ecosystem -- from the way it allocates presidential electors, to the makeup of its legislature, to how state policymakers are elected. 

Some reformers even look at it as a potential model for what a better representative democracy looks like, and it is because of the nonpartisan manner by which legislators are elected, and the impact that has had on the legislative process. 

The Naples Daily News Editorial Board penned a piece earlier this month condemning the widespread practice of “phantom candidacies,” which play an unfortunate role of shutting too many voters out of the elections process.

This evening we talk with Chad Peace, legal advisor for the Independent Voter Project. The Independent Voter Project (IVP) is a non-profit 501(c)4 organization that seeks to re-engage nonpartisan voters and promote nonpartisan election reform through initiatives, litigation, and voter education. IVP works with organizations around the country to reduce the institutional barriers that limit electoral competition and restrict the nonpartisan right to vote, thus insulating the two major parties from competition.

That voter suppression is antithetical to democracy seems axiomatic, particularly if democracy is defined as rule by the majority. It is also, however, perhaps the most effective means for a minority to attain and perpetuate control of an elected government. Since it will not do to admit to cheating one’s way to power, voter suppression is generally couched in such euphemisms as “preventing voter fraud,” or “ensuring that only those able to understand for whom they are voting get to cast a ballot.”

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"Most Americans believe our political system is a public institution that follows a set of detailed, impartial principles, structures and practices derived from the Constitution… It isn’t.” - Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter

Imagine an industry where consumer trust has dropped to marginal levels, but nothing in that industry changed. It’s hard to do, right? Even now in the midst of a pandemic and social turmoil we see businesses commit to doing better to adapt to consumer demands. 

Baltimore is a one-party city, so much so that it hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1967. Registered Democrats vastly outnumber any other party registration, having a tenfold advantage over the Republican Party. It's as blue as a city could get.

The consequence of this is November elections are inconsequential. The winner of the closed Democratic mayoral primary, for instance, might as well be sworn in the next day, and he or she can win with a marginal share of the total registered voting population. Voters outside the Democratic Party have no voice in the process.