An Independence View

Here are some examples of the conversion taking place today:

South Carolina
We are optimistic that H. 3230, the bill that would eliminate fusion or cross endorsement in SC, will be buried for this year. The South Carolina Senate Elections Committee (2 Democrats, 2 Republicans) split their votes on the bill last week and the resulting tie effectively kills the bill. On the House side, the Judiciary Committee has temporarily put it on hold.
As you may know, fusion allows candidates to run on more than one party line. It has been used successfully by the New York City Independence Party, for example, to put independent voters in a stronger position politically.

For the last four years, the Republicans have been itching to get this bill passed. In the last week, Wayne Griffin and the South Carolina Independence Party have bombarded the legislators with emails, letters and phone calls opposing the legislation. One letter co-authored by Griffin and Lenora Fulani, laid out the racially discriminatory effects of eliminating fusion. In addition, Griffin sent an urgent alert to all the presidential candidates who are regularly passing through South Carolina trolling for support. He also issued a press release about independent opposition to the bill.

Last week, two African American Democrats on the Senate Elections Subcommittee voted against the bill, effectively making sure that it would never get passed the Subcommittee level. And yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee – who has the votes needed to pass the bill – voted instead to send it back to the House Elections Subcommittee for another hearing. Specifically, they have asked Wayne to testify on the issue. The result – we hope this bill will never see the light of day.

Idaho
Mitch Campbell of the American Independent Movement of Idaho (AIM) testified at a State Affairs Committee legislative hearing on Tuesday against H 185, legislation that would force partisan registration and end the State’s open primary system. This is the first time Mitch testified before the state legislature, and he created quit a stir.

Mitch stated: “As I look across the legislative body I see people who represent the Republican Party and …the Democratic Party, but I see no one who represents the majority of Idaho’s citizens which is clearly the independents, and I am here on their behalf to address my and their concerns. ... In attempting to protect the rights of a political party, the legislation would in effect restrict and infringe upon the rights of every other individual in the state of Idaho. In deciding whether a bill is worthy of passage the underlying issue should be – are the rights of a political party more important than the rights of every individual in the State of Idaho? Do political party rights supersede the rights of individuals? And does the U.S. and Idaho Constitution allow political party rights to prevail over individual rights? The independent answer addressing these issues is ‘no.’”

Mitch’s testimony followed Secretary of State Ben Ysursa's, who also admonished the legislature for putting forth this legislation. Not only have voters rebelled against these attempts before, he told the State Affairs Committee, but the Committee attempted to bypass approval by the Appropriations Committee by pretending that that the bill had no fiscal impact – which it clearly does.

Mitch also met leaders from two non-profit groups who testified against the bill. The result – the legislation was put on hold, at least for another week, so the Committee can “work out the kinks.” Again the use of email, letters to the Editor, etc. will be used to keep the states' independents informed. Stay tuned.

New Hampshire
20 out-of-state independents from our national network have taken names and numbers of New Hampshire independents to call to gain their support for the NH Committee for an Independent Voice’s efforts to defeat HB196, the legislation limiting independents' rights to participate in the primaries. A email letter writing campaign with grassroots calling will defeat this the way it was defeated last year.

Missouri
The Missouri Elections Committee has postponed its vote, even if for only a week, on SB 409 – a bill that would force independents to file an intent to run for office in March – many months before the November election. The bill was introduced by Senator Gary Nodler after Kim Wright had the “audacity” to run against him – and got 36.4% of the vote. If it wasn’t for Kim, Nodler would have run unopposed. The bill has attracted some attention in the press in Joplin, where Kim ran, and in Cedar County, where Mike Holzknecht lives. Mike ran against the Chair of the Elections Committee Senator Delbert Scott – and got 43% of the vote! Senator Scott makes no bones about how he feels about independents. He told the Cedar County Republican: “Typically, independents are not really independents. They are disgruntled Democrats or Republicans who for some reason did not want to run in a primary.” It seems the two parties have no clue who and what independents are doing.

We are now "Sway" voters!

Michael H. Drucker
www.independentvoting.org

Sphere: Related Content