Search query: arizona

Up until the last presidential debate, Americans had heard little about George W. Bush, even from Republican candidate, Mitt Romney.  It wasn’t until recently that former President Bill Clinton started stumping for the Democratic Party and heavily endorsing President Obama in this election cycle. It seems that, despite a painfully partisan environment that is invariably apparent to the public, independence from partisanship is key to win over the coveted “swing” voters. In some tight senate rac

Over the last several decades, party central committees, partisan special interests, and courts overseen by party-appointed judges have built an institutional wall around party power-brokers. Districts are re-drawn, with bipartisan agreements: "I'll give you a red district X if you give me a blue district Y. Then we can focus our resources and battle it out for District Z." The rules for ballot access, different in each state, have been similarly framed around a two-party picture: signature req

Americans For Responsible Leadership, headed by conservative Arizona Republican businessman Robert Graham, is the leading source of funds fighting Arizona’s Proposition 121, the citizens AZ open primary reform. The initiative is modeled after Washington State and California’s groundbreaking nonpartisan primary reforms. ARL has contributed $450,000 to the campaign to kill the "top two" primary initiative, according to documents on file with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office. The partisan

Opponents of Arizona’s Proposition 121 warn that the “top two” primary system might be gamed by the two major parties, leaving voters confused and/or with fewer choices. They warn that a party might work to keep all but one of its members from entering the open primary, thereby increasing his or her odds of garnering enough votes to move on to the general election. games-man-shipgeymznoun Under our current system, party leaders often anoint a preferred candidate and discourage others from runn

Maricopa County, Arizona, is not necessarily known for its open-mindedness, mainly thanks to its notoriously hard-on-crime sheriff, Joe Arpaio. Now, the county’s Democratic chair, Ann Wallack, has made her opposition to open primaries public via Twitter. On Sunday she casually tweeted, “[In my honest opinion] most independents are not independent thinkers; they are just bored with politics. So I’m against Open Primaries. Why cater to them?” Arizona is set to vote on Proposition 121 in November

After holding its first non-partisan open primary this June, California went from the least competitive, to the most competitive elections in the country, according to Ballotpedia. Arizona has a similar measure on its ballot that would end party-controlled primaries.As the 2012 General Election approaches, IVN will pay special attention to the numerous incumbent partisans in California who face serious challenge for the first time, the state of Arizona's open elections initiative, and other race

After holding its first non-partisan open primary this June, California went from the least competitive, to the most competitive elections in the country, according to Ballotpedia. Arizona has a similar measure on its ballot that would end party-controlled primaries.As the 2012 General Election approaches, IVN will pay special attention to the numerous incumbent partisans in California who face serious challenge for the first time, the state of Arizona's open elections initiative, and other race

IndependentVoting.org, a national strategy, communications, and organizing center working to connect and empower the 40% of Americans who identify themselves as independents, has begun conducting a survey to educate and activate Arizona voters about Proposition 121, the Top-Two Open Primary Initiative. Early results show that when independents learn about Prop 121 and how top-two open primaries work, by allowing independents to vote in the first and often decisive round of voting, they strongly

Politico recently reported that Governor Gary Johnson could actually be drawing a statistically significant amount of support from the major parties. Johnson, who is running on the Libertarian ticket, has previously run for public office on a Republican ticket, but most recently served as New Mexico's Independent governor. He spent 10 years as governor in that state, during which he enjoyed exceptionally high approval ratings. Now, recent polls are showing that his run for president as a Liberta

The YES on Prop 121 Arizona Open Election Coalition campaign today unveiled a TV ad that will begin to run immediately on stations across the state. The campaign made special note that the are committed to staying positive, even in the face of all the bipartisan negative advertisements against the non-partisan measure: Noting that opponents have leveled a barrage of criticism at the measure in their effort to preserve the state’s current partisan primary election system, Johnson admitted that t