IVN Editorial BoardMamdani recently said he's "content" with New York's closed primary system that disenfranchises 1.2 million voters from their taxpayer-funded primary.
On Monday, Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen and thirteen fellow California Assembly Democrats introduced ACA 24, the “Right to Vote” amendment — authoring a fundamental principal into the California constitution that says just the opposite: the right to vote comes from citizenship, not from joining a political party.
The timing is no accident in California. Insiders from both parties including a longtime Democratic consultant, a former state GOP chair, and the sitting Democratic Party chair among them, are running a campaign to “Undo the Top Two” and drag California back to closed primaries. Standing in their way: 5.2 million Californians registered No Party Preference, the fastest-growing bloc in the state, fresh off a record 41% primary turnout.
As Shawn Griffiths writes, the amendment’s authors just made a bet: the best defense is a good offense. Don’t just block the repeal: enshrine the nonpartisan right to vote into the Constitution.
Check out more stories that go outside the two-sided narrative below.
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California Legislators Lead Landmark Voting Rights Amendment
Shawn Griffiths breaks down ACA 24 — who signed on, what it changes, and why it matters that roughly a third of California’s Latino voters are now registered with no party at all. Instead of playing defense against the repeal, fourteen legislators moved to make the right to vote permanent.
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Independent Voter Podcast
Veteran GOP operative Anne Dunsmore traces 50 years in politics — from a lost bet in a D.C. bar to George H.W. Bush’s inner circle — and what a half-century inside the machine taught her about how the parties actually work. EP55 of the Independent Voter Podcast.
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Assembly Democrats Defend Independent Voters Against a Party-Driven Effort to "Undo the Top Two" Nonpartisan Primary
A new constitutional amendment — ACA 24 — would codify that the right to vote derives from citizenship, not from affiliation with a political party. The IVN Editorial Board on the broad Democratic coalition putting voters ahead of their own party’s “Undo the Top Two” campaign.
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An Independent Just Broke Through in Alaska — As Republicans Try to Kill the System That Made It Possible
Independent Bill Hill just finished second in Alaska’s Aug. 18 top-four primary — earning a head-to-head ranked-choice matchup with Republican Rep. Nick Begich III for the state’s at-large House seat. The twist: in November, Alaskans also vote on repealing the very system that put an independent in contention. Matt Shinners reports.
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Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Army veteran Paul Rieckhoff on Florida’s closed primary locking millions of independents out of taxpayer-funded elections — including 640,000 veterans — plus the DSA’s continued march through Democratic primaries.
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Viral ‘Looksmaxxer’ Calls AOC ‘Beautiful’ — and Claims He’s ‘Not Political’
Streamer Clavicular says his “I can fix her” post about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was mostly a bit — “I just tweeted that for engagement” — but he insists he’s “simply not political.” His audience? The least partisan in the country: a record 45% of Americans now identify as independent, including 56% of Gen Z.
