Have you heard about the Arizona Open Primary Initiative? There was a nice write up on it recently in the Arizona Republic. I'm all for it, something needs to be done to moderate the extremes of both parties and I think this would be a good starting point. Anyways, to summarize:
"Political moderates for years have bemoaned Arizona's partisan primary system. . . . . . . . . . . Voter participation is typically light, they complain, giving outsize influence to diehard party activists who often are either more conservative or more liberal than most rank-and-file party members and independents. And Democratic or Republican voters in districts dominated by the other party frequently have little or no choice once the general election arrives. . . . . . . . . . . Many centrists blame the status quo for the state's increasingly divisive political climate. This year, Arizona voters may get the opportunity to overhaul the process. An initiative drive aims to place on the statewide ballot a proposition that would establish a new kind of open primary in which the top two vote-getters would face off in the general election. . . . . . . . . . .All voters, including independents, could participate in the new "top two" primary, meaning the candidates would have to appeal to an array of voters beyond their ideological base in order to succeed. It would apply to all elections in the state except for nonpartisan municipal elections and the state's presidential-preference election. . . . . . . . . . . . "You're no longer voting for a nominee of the Democratic Party or a nominee of the Republican Party, you're winnowing down the number of candidates down to two," said David Berman, a senior research fellow at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy who has studied the issue. "So, it's not a partisan primary anymore. It's a system by which you screen candidates down to the top two". . . . . . . . . . . It's possible, and in some Arizona congressional and legislative districts even probable, that the top two vote-getters in the primary would belong to the same party. . . . . . . . . . . Unlike in city elections, the top vote-getter would not be able to avoid the runoff by clearing more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary. A general-election match-up is guaranteed. In the case of Arizona House of Representatives elections, where two seats are up for grabs in each legislative district, the top four contenders would head to the general election. More than just shaking up the election process, the 2012 initiative "is about trying to change the outcomes so that we end up with a more reasoned debate and more people are included in the process," . . . . . . . . . . .Today's partisan primaries require "ideological purity" and stoke hostility toward the other side, making bipartisan cooperation on major issues less likely. . . . . . . . . . .Twenty years ago, it was normal for people to cross the aisle and work with other people and look for common ground. People felt like they had a responsibility to people in both parties. Today, politics is a team sport. It's not about the state. It's not about the country. It's about: What team are you on, the blue team or the red team?" . . . . . . . . . . .The Open Government Committee championing the "top-two" primary system has until July 5 to submit 259,213 valid petition signatures to secure a spot on the ballot for the initiative. If voters pass the measure, the "top two" primary would go into effect during the 2014 election cycle."
"Political moderates for years have bemoaned Arizona's partisan primary system. . . . . . . . . . . Voter participation is typically light, they complain, giving outsize influence to diehard party activists who often are either more conservative or more liberal than most rank-and-file party members and independents. And Democratic or Republican voters in districts dominated by the other party frequently have little or no choice once the general election arrives. . . . . . . . . . . Many centrists blame the status quo for the state's increasingly divisive political climate. This year, Arizona voters may get the opportunity to overhaul the process. An initiative drive aims to place on the statewide ballot a proposition that would establish a new kind of open primary in which the top two vote-getters would face off in the general election. . . . . . . . . . .All voters, including independents, could participate in the new "top two" primary, meaning the candidates would have to appeal to an array of voters beyond their ideological base in order to succeed. It would apply to all elections in the state except for nonpartisan municipal elections and the state's presidential-preference election. . . . . . . . . . . . "You're no longer voting for a nominee of the Democratic Party or a nominee of the Republican Party, you're winnowing down the number of candidates down to two," said David Berman, a senior research fellow at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy who has studied the issue. "So, it's not a partisan primary anymore. It's a system by which you screen candidates down to the top two". . . . . . . . . . . It's possible, and in some Arizona congressional and legislative districts even probable, that the top two vote-getters in the primary would belong to the same party. . . . . . . . . . . Unlike in city elections, the top vote-getter would not be able to avoid the runoff by clearing more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary. A general-election match-up is guaranteed. In the case of Arizona House of Representatives elections, where two seats are up for grabs in each legislative district, the top four contenders would head to the general election. More than just shaking up the election process, the 2012 initiative "is about trying to change the outcomes so that we end up with a more reasoned debate and more people are included in the process," . . . . . . . . . . .Today's partisan primaries require "ideological purity" and stoke hostility toward the other side, making bipartisan cooperation on major issues less likely. . . . . . . . . . .Twenty years ago, it was normal for people to cross the aisle and work with other people and look for common ground. People felt like they had a responsibility to people in both parties. Today, politics is a team sport. It's not about the state. It's not about the country. It's about: What team are you on, the blue team or the red team?" . . . . . . . . . . .The Open Government Committee championing the "top-two" primary system has until July 5 to submit 259,213 valid petition signatures to secure a spot on the ballot for the initiative. If voters pass the measure, the "top two" primary would go into effect during the 2014 election cycle."
You can read the full article here. To find out more about the initiative, click here.
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