Posted by Patrick McWhortor on May 24, 2016 at 1:50 PM
For five years, a grassroots movement has been building in Arizona for election reform - to level the playing field for all voters and candidates and end the control by the political parties over the tax-payer funded primary elections.
Open Primaries launched an effort in March, 2015 to support the growth of this movement. Working with local leaders and activists, our goal was to give Arizonans the opportunity to enact a ballot measure this November. Despite our best efforts, we failed.
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Posted by John Fernandes on April 12, 2016 at 3:42 PM
This segment aired on Channel 3 News Arizona on Monday, April 11th, 2016.
PHOENIX (3TV) - Voters outraged at Arizona officials for bungling the march 22 presidential primary election appeared to personally voice their experiences to Secretary of State Michele Reagan during a community outreach event in Phoenix. (Monday, April 11, 2016)
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Posted by John Fernandes on April 01, 2016 at 1:56 PM
This article was written by Danny Ortega and Armida Lopez for Latino Fox News.
We stand at a critical moment for the Latino community and our country. As we watch the tumult of the 2016 election season unfold, we’ve seen the Republican Party candidates demonize us in an effort to rally their base and the Democratic Party offer the same recycled platitudes from election years past. We are the fastest growing voting bloc in the country but we have yet to find our political voice. A recent poll of 1,500 Latinos across the state of Arizona found that 90 percent wanted new strategies and new ways for empowerment.
Now, more than ever, it is time to embrace making a change when Latinos are rising in numbers as a community and upping our voter registrations but our voter participation is going down. We need to create a culture of voting and it starts in the primaries and having a choice for the people.
- D. Ortega and A. Lopez
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Posted by John Fernandes on March 29, 2016 at 11:01 AM
This article was written by Gary Grado and Rachel Leingang for the Arizona Capitol Times.
One man is behind bars after activists halted today’s House floor session with chanting, jeering and a tussle with police.
Activists, stoked by rowdy proceedings in the House Elections Committee earlier in the day, filled the gallery.
They had arrived in the morning to attend the committee hearing where election officials explained what went wrong with the March 22 election in which many voters waited in line for hours. The hearing was cut short so lawmakers could attend the floor session.
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Posted by John Fernandes on March 24, 2016 at 4:57 PM
This article was written by Dan McCue for CourtHouseNews.com.
"Western Tuesday" was a very good Tuesday indeed for Sen. Bernie Sanders, who won big in Idaho and Utah, and did respectably well in Arizona, where delegates were awarded proportionately. Also a big winner in the west was the Republican Sen.
Ted Cruz of Texas, who not only obliterated his competition in Utah, but did so in such a decisive manner -- garnering 69 percent of the vote, that he triggered a state rule giving him all of its delegates. In Utah, the Republican contest is a bid for a proportional share of delegates unless a candidate receives more than 50 percent support at the polls. If they do, they get everything, and that's what's Cruz did.
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Posted by John Fernandes on March 16, 2016 at 10:21 AM
This article was published by Univision.
En Arizona, 37% de los votantes registrados son independientes. A pesar de ser mayoría, estos electores no podrán participar en las primarias del 22 de Marzo porque las leyes del estado no lo permiten.
“Esto quiere decir que 1.2 millones de ciudadanos están siendo excluidos de las elecciones primarias. La única manera de que los independientes puedan votar en el estado de Arizona en las primarias es que se registren con alguno de los dos partidos principales: republicano o demócrata”, explica Armida López de la organización Open Primaries.
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Posted by John Fernandes on March 04, 2016 at 1:59 PM
This article was written by KPNX for Channel 12 News Arizona
They are the largest group of voters in Arizona but as of now they have no say during the presidential primary. We are not talking about Latinos or African Americans, white or the elderly, the group is independent voters.
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Posted by John Fernandes on March 01, 2016 at 5:53 PM
This radio piece ran nationally on NPR.
The biggest group of voters politicians will have to woo this November are the ones who often don't get a say in which candidates make it to the general election ballot.
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Posted by Adriana Espinoza on February 25, 2016 at 2:00 PM
This radio piece ran nationally on NPR.
Voters who aren't part of any political party make up the biggest chunk of the electorate in Arizona. But they don't have many rights and they're trying to change that through grassroots pressure.
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Posted by Kellie Ryan on February 12, 2016 at 11:34 AM
This article was written by Sydney Glenn for Cronkite News.
The Arizona House of Representatives voted Wednesday to repeal the state-funded version of the presidential primary.
House Speaker David Gowan of Sierra Vista sponsored the HB2567 bill that, if approved by the Senate and signed into law, would repeal Presidential Preference Elections.
For future Presidential Preference Elections, political parties would have to raise their own funds to cover the election costs. The bill would not go into effect until after the March election.
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