Parties, Movements, Independents, and what’s next?

To talk about what is next, we need to look at what has recently past.

“Goodbye Two-Party System - Name a problem — poverty, war, out-of-control spending. The political parties offer themselves as the solution to all of the above, and more. We respond by voting for first one party, then the other, and then back again. We want to let the world know we are unhappy, but we haven’t yet developed the creative capacity to rearrange the world around us.

This seemingly eternal passivity is the mother’s milk of political partyism. No wonder the Republicans and Democrats and their auxiliaries — the tea parties, the unions, the media — must whip us into a frenzy. Whether we are Foxites, MSNBCists, bloggers or bored stiff, we’re now implored daily to get out to vote. Why? Not because voting develops our capacity to move the country forward. But because we must put one, or the other, or both, political parties in power — even though separately and together, they brought us to this anxious and crummy place.

This is American politics 101. The cure for whatever ails us is . . . more of the same. Public health advocates tell cautionary tales about diabetics who drink soda, people with high cholesterol who eat burgers and fries, and daughters of breast cancer victims who take hormones. But somehow, no one ever informs us that political parties — and the partisanship they spawn — have clogged our national arteries, fried our national brains and compromised the entire body politic.

But Americans are starting to move beyond the parties, even beyond partyism. That’s the dynamic story unfolding on the edges of the midterm battleground. And if that motion is cultivated by truly nonpartisan innovators, the political parties will have a comeuppance sooner than you might think. Contrary to what some analysts argue — that America is ripe for a third party — the direction Americans are really heading is away from parties’ altogether.”

Jacqueline Salit is president of IndependentVoting.org, a national association of independent voters and the Executive Editor of THE NEO-INDEPENDENT magazine.
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New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says an unaffiliated candidate can’t win the presidency. Bloomberg told reporters that the very best an independent candidate could hope for was an electoral-vote tie, which would give final say to the House, which the GOP recaptured this month. “Party affiliation is so strong with enough people that the Republicans and Democrats — no matter who their candidates were — would get enough votes — that you could get the from independent vote, it would still not be a majority,” he said.

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From Ballot Access News — the twenty nine states with registration by party, plus the District of Columbia, reported in October and November 2010 that 73.5% of all voters are registered Democrats or Republicans. This is the lowest percentage for the two major parties since before 1980, and probably the lowest ever. In Alaska the Democrats and Republicans have a combined total of 41% of registered voters, meaning 59% of Alaska voters have chosen other options.
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Write-in votes – Lisa Murkowski is close to becoming the second Senator to win a write-in vote to be re-elected as the Senator from Alaska after losing the Republican primary.
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Each of these events point to the beginning of a new political process, but where will it go?

I agree with Mayor Bloomberg that an independent will have a difficult time to become President without support of Congressional members and the current winner-take-all electoral votes. I also agree with Ms. Salit that the two party political system is losing its hold with registered votes who are now split three-ways between the two major parties, and minor parties and independents.

I have worked on all three of Mayor Bloomberg's campaigns and with Ms. Salit since 2001 to encourage these structural political reforms.

You Can't Change the Political Game Unless You Change the Political Rules
The following are a set of political reforms favored by many independent voters that address the institutional barriers to their participation and to greater democracy.

Open Primaries
This was the year of the Open Primary. Independents flocked to vote in the primaries and established that they are an engine for a new politic. Support for open primaries is very high among independents. Polling puts it consistently at above 90%. Consequently, independents would value efforts to further institutionalize this practice. Open Primaries is a general category which has taken a number of different forms. Whatever the approach taken, open primaries would allow some 40% of American voters to participate in the critical first round of elections for public office from which closed primaries bar them. Moreover, as this year’s presidential primaries demonstrate, open primaries maximize the influence of younger voters, anti-machine voters and voters more open to change. Thirty-three states have some form of open primaries (or caucuses) at the presidential level. Only a handful has them for other federal or for state offices (though many cities have nonpartisan municipal elections, including 60 out of 75 of the nation’s largest cities as of 1991).

I believe the pure open primary where all candidates are on one primary ballot with the option of displaying the logo of their party and the logo of endorsement with the top two going to the general election is the fairest change to the current systems. This would still give the parties to ability to have their preferred selection method but also allow other party candidates to get into the game. The biggest question would be how write-in votes would be countered.

Election Administration Reform
In almost all of the states elections are run by either the Secretary of State (elected as a Democrat or a Republican) or by a bipartisan Board of Elections. The Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) is bipartisan. Independents have no representation at any level. Partisan election administration can undermine the integrity of the process and hurts independents in a number of ways. Consideration must now be given to equal representation on the bodies that administer elections and/or to a system of nonpartisan (as opposed to bipartisan) election administration.

Initiative and Referendum
Partisan gridlock in Washington and in many state legislatures has made policy innovation or even sound policy making a rarity. Initiative and referendum, in which citizens can directly legislate, is an effective way to break through. The open primary legislation in Washington State was passed by referendum. In Ohio, drug law reform was achieved by I&R. Some complain that I&R allows the wealthy or the right wing to control the legislative agenda. However, this presidential season – and the Obama campaign in particular – has demonstrated that an inspired citizenry will financially and politically support efforts to bring about much needed progressive change. For independents, referenda are a level playing field, an arena where their votes are as effective as those of major party members. Their power is not diluted by exclusion from party primaries or by the partisan organization of legislative bodies and committees.

States have historically functioned as laboratories of reform. I&R, now legal in 27 states in some form or fashion, contributes to this. It may even provide a model for a system of national referendum, a process that could directly engage the citizenry and build a culture of national conversation. Every voter in every state should have access to the I&R process.

Redistricting Reform
In some states the dominant political party has used redistricting to minimize the possibility for electoral success of the other major party. In other states the two major parties have used it to preserve the electoral and legislative status quo. In either case, redistricting has meant the construction of “safe districts” for either Democrats or Republicans. This necessarily means blunting opportunities for new alliances to emerge in the context of congressional and other legislative elections. It also virtually rules out competition from independent forces. The redistricting process should be nonpartisan and administered in a way that the voting power of independents is not diluted.

Ballot Access Reform
Discrimination against independent and minor party candidates must be eliminated. Ballot access reform bills that establish uniform ballot requirements in federal elections have languished in Congress since 1985. There is no reason not to level the playing field for all candidates for public office.

Direct Elections for the Presidency
Despite lip service by some Democratic Party leaders, a move towards abolition of the Electoral College has not been seriously undertaken. As a result, in a general election for president, the solid “red” and “blue” states are often ignored because their outcomes are predetermined. This is unfair, not only to independents, but to all voters in such states. Every American’s vote should count. Another approach worth considering would be to have electoral votes in each state awarded in proportion to the popular vote. This practice was adopted in Maine.

Same Day Voter Registration
A maze of state by state regulations govern the voter registration process, including cut-off dates, waiting periods, “locked boxes,” etc. Legislators often object to SDVR because, they say, if you don’t know who your eligible electorate is, you won’t know who to mail your campaign literature to. The practice of restricting voter registration supports the incumbents, but not the voter, and certainly not potential new voters. In some states, the “cut-off” date precedes the moment in the election cycle when voters start to pay attention to the choices. This is particularly true for younger voters. Given the advances in technology, there is no reason that voters should not be permitted to register on Election Day itself. What’s more, voters should have the right to re-register at the polling place after they have cast a ballot. This is the practice in New Hampshire, and it’s been vital to the state’s independents – 44% of the electorate. Recently, legislators tried to deprive them of that right and independents fought back and won – twice.

In New York we are working on Non Partisan Municipal Elections. We failed to get the Charter Revision Commission to put it on the 2010 ballot but I think it received enough support that another Commission could agree to give it a chance with the voters. But this time we need to spell out in more detail on how it could work and not affect the existing parties.

Let me know what you think our political future looks like.

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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