Voter Suppression’s New Pretext. Some background: In June, the Supreme Court struck down a core provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, under which nine states and portions of others had to get federal approval before changing their election laws.
One of those states, Texas, is again in court, facing a Justice Department suit seeking to get the state under federal oversight again. To do so, the Justice Department must prove intentional racial discrimination. Texas’ defense? Of babies, bathwaters, and non-partisan elections. Phil Keisling, Oregon’s Secretary of State from 1991-1999 and currently director of the Center for Public Service at the Hatfield School of Portland State University, wants mayors to be elected in non-partisan elections, held at the same time as general elections.
He is worried about low turnout in partisan primaries held in odd year elections (in the recent NYC mayoral primary, turnout was 22% overall, only 13% among registered Republicans). Increase voter turnout with non-partisan elections. Photo courtesy Bill de Blasio Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio (r.) shakes hands with passerbys at the corner of 31st Street and Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria.
Photo courtesy Bill de Blasio By Tom Allon TimesLedger Newspapers As the old saying goes, democracy is the second worst form of government — everything else is tied for first. School Board Elections In Berkeley Anything But Non-Partisan - Elections - Berkeley, NJ Patch. Nonpartisan Tulsa election may be decided by partisan voters - Tulsa World: Elections. Taylor needs high voter turnout and crossover voting by Republicans to win.
Posted: Monday, November 11, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 10:53 am, Mon Nov 11, 2013. The solution to hyper-partisanship already exists, and it doesn’t involve gerrymandering. The latest game of political chicken that drove Washington to a government shutdown and the very edge of the debt ceiling gave new life to the omnipresent complaint of elder statesmen and centrist wise guys: If only Congressional districts weren’t so gerrymandered in the decennial redistricting process, moderation and across-the-aisle deal-making wouldn’t be so rare.
But there’s another solution to the partisan extremism that seems to dominate Congress today, one that’s already in practice in two states: A top-two primary system, one that incentivizes candidates in even the most conservative or liberal districts to appeal to the vast middle that otherwise plays a limited role in picking members of Congress. In California and Washington state, that top-two system is already in effect. And in both states, the hard right and the hard left have seen their influence wane. The solution to that problem involves empowering voters in the middle of the political spectrum. N.J., Va. elections give mixed signals on partisanship. By Bill Barrow and Ken ThomasThe Associated Press Posted: 11/07/2013 12:01:00 AM MST|Updated: 6 months ago New Jersey Gov.
Chris Christie visits Jose Marti Freshman Academy in Union City, N.J. on Wednesday, the day after defeating Democratic challenger Barbara Buono to win his second term as governor. (Rich Schultz, The Associated Press) Nonpartisanism. In political science, nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with a political party.[1] Some organizations claiming to be nonpartisan are truly such; others, particularly in the USA, are nominally nonpartisan (for reasons of law or public perception) but in fact closely follow the policies of a political party.
While the dictionary definition of partisan includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc.,[2] in many cases nonpartisan refers specifically to political party connections rather than being the strict antonym of "partisan", and an organisation described as nonpartisan can have many decidedly controversial policies. United States[edit] Today, nonpartisan elections are generally held for municipal and county offices, especially school board, and are also common in the election of judges. Rockville officials fear partisan influence on city politics. This article was corrected on Oct. 21, 2013.
An explanation follows. Some current and former Rockville officials think putting the city’s election on the same ballot as the presidential election could have a chilling effect on federal employees’ willingness to serve on the city’s Mayor and Council. City elections are currently held in odd-numbered years. Changing the timing so that they coincide with the presidential elections is one of three advisory referendums on the ballot in Rockville this November. Supporters of moving the race hope it would increase voter turnout at municipal elections. Oklahoma Observer. Hendersonville Politics: Candidates spar over partisanship; Freeman endorses Volk - Hendersonville Lightning. Jeff Collis makes a point during a campaign forum.
By Bill Moss, Published: October 25, 2013 Hendersonville City Council member Jeff Collis has riled challenger Jeff Miller with a charge that the Henderson County Republican Party has injected partisanship into the race. Collis says the GOP has endorsed Miller and Ron Stephens, who is running against incumbent Barbara Volk, a Democrat.
GOP officials say it's not so. The City Council race is non-partisan and historically candidates have ignored the party registration of their opponents.Collis, who is registered as unaffiliated, made the charge in a letter to the Hendersonville Lightning and also to the Times-News, which published the letter on Friday. Miller said Friday he got an unequivocal no when he asked a Republican official whether the party had endorsed or done any work for a city candidate. GOP: City election partisanship cuts the other way. Collis made headlines last week when he charged that GOP Chairman Andrew Riddle was urging fellow Republicans by letter to vote for mayoral candidate Ron Stephens and council candidate Jeff Miller.
Collis said Riddle’s alleged endorsement broke an unwritten rule against partisan influences on city elections and continued a “bad precedent” set when Republicans endorsed one school board candidate and two District Court judges in those nonpartisan races last year. Riddle denied any official Republican involvement in the city election and was outraged when his predecessor, former GOP chair Robert Danos, informed him Tuesday that the Henderson County Democratic Party was urging its voters to support Collis, among others.
“He’s accusing me of doing something that he, himself, is doing,” Riddle said. “And the facts are, there is no evidence that the county Republican Party is endorsing a candidate for City Council and there is evidence that the Democratic Party is endorsing candidates.” Holland Races Draw Partisan Response, Emails 'Corrosive' Peacock decries ‘partisanship’ by opponent. Republican mayoral candidate Edwin Peacock Monday once again criticized Democrat Patrick Cannon’s description of him as “anti-Charlotte” near the end of their debate last week. No Labels: Not Left. Not Right. Forward. Is It Time for Partisanship In Local Races? It’s an odd-numbered election year in Georgia.
And that means, except for few special elections to fill unexpired terms for State House and Senate seats, voters will cast their ballots today for mayors, city council members and school board members in what are non-partisan races. So it was interesting when this email came over the transom last night: Clicking the link takes you to a website where you can input your email and zip code, then locate your polling place. Local Races in California are NINO—Nonpartisan in Name Only. Printer-friendly version.