Articles by Ron Kahlow

Source: SF Examiner In June 2010 California radically changed the way candidates are elected to public office by passing the non-partisan "Top-Two" open primary ("Proposition 14"). Previously, candidates running for office appeared only on their party's ballot in the primary election. Then, the winner from each political party and any independents who qualified for ballot access would move on to the general election. In the November general election, voters could choose between one Republican, ...

State primaries are in a truly very sad state. Voters don’t understand the importance of primaries. Voter turnout in every State primary has always been horrible. Primaries defeat the principle of representative democracy. Primaries give incumbents a big advantage over challengers. Next Tuesday, New York, Colorado, Oklahoma and Utah have primaries. And, the beat goes on. One reason for poor turnout is that voters are often ignorant of the importance of primaries. For any office that is safe for...

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Certainly pictures of candidates can be very important information in a voter’s decision process. But, unfortunately, a vast majority of voters have no idea what the candidates on their ballots look like, especially for State, county, and local offices. To get those pictures, many voters turn to the Internet. Recently, I had several shocking experiences regarding the pictures I found, or didn’t find, of candidates. The first incident was whe...

Credit: websterstyle.wordpress.com State primaries are in a sad state. Many voters don’t understand the importance of primaries. Voter turnout is generally far lower than in general elections. Primaries defeat the principle of representative democracy. Primaries give incumbents a big advantage over challengers. Next Tuesday, New York, Colorado, Oklahoma and Utah have primaries. And, the beat goes on. One reason for poor turnout is that voters are often ignorant of the importance of primaries. ...

Who says primaries are not important? Tell that to the candidates and incumbents vying for New York’s US House seats. The 2010 census reduced the number of US House seats for New York from 29 to 27. The redistricting of these newly-redrawn districts means a new shuffling of the cards for the candidates and incumbents vying for these reduced number of US House races. In the 2010 primary, only 18% of voters turned out for the New York Primary. The turnout this year could be even worse because, in...