Chad Peace
Some 5 million Republican voters may soon learn what nearly 6 million independent voters already know: The State of California engages in partisan-driven voter suppression.
In an unprecedented move, the state legislature, in a party-line vote, passed a bill designed specifically to keep the President of the United States off the California primary ballot.
Forget what you think about the President. California will have ZERO impact on whether Trump gets the Republican nomination.
What California can do, however, is reduce turnout among Republican voters for all the nonpartisan races up and down the ballot.
Voter turnout is typically driven by top-of-the-ticket races – Governor Newsom and the Democratic legislature are hoping to keep Republicans home.
But this is old news for California’s independent voters, who outnumber Republicans in the state.
Despite the state’s constitutional requirement that California provide an “open presidential primary,” independent voters in California are not allowed to vote for a candidate of their choice.
That is why, last month, the Independent Voter Project sued California Secretary of State Alex Padilla for taking away the voting rights of 5 million California voters.
SB-27, California’s new voter suppression scheme, just adds another 4.4 million voters who don’t enjoy the same rights as party-loyal Democrats.
To be clear, this isn’t about Democrats. In Republican-controlled states, they do the same thing.
This is about power. And in California, boy do they wield it.