Obama losing independent voters

Story Highlights
- John Avlon: Independent voters hold the balance of power in American politics
- Avlon says president wooed independents with bipartisan approach as a candidate
- He says independents are fiscally conservative and socially progressive
- Avlon: President Obama's spending plans are costing him independent support

Over the course of this summer, President Obama's approval ratings have plummeted among independent voters -- the largest and fastest-growing segment of the American electorate.

Health Care is dividing the country and independents reflect this divide.

Use the above link to read the entire article from John Avlon, Special to CNN.

John Avlon is the author of "Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics" and writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast. Previously, he was chief speechwriter for New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.

Michael H. Drucker
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Independent Holds Balance of Power in Kentucky Special State Senate Election

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this:

On August 25, Kentucky held a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 18th district, in the northeastern part of the state. The results: Robin Webb, Democrat, 48.14%; Jack Ditty, Republican, 46.58%; Guy Gibbons, independent, 5.28%.

The vote in 2006 when this district last voted was: Republican 52.82%; Democratic 47.18%. The special election resulted when the incumbent Republican Senator accepted a gubernatorial appointment to a state executive job. Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell had campaigned for the Republican nominee in today’s special election.

Michael H. Drucker
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Jackie Salit on WLRN Radio

Jackie Salit, the Executive Editor of The NEO-INDEPENDENT magazine and the President of the Committee for a Unified Independent Party, Inc. (CUIP), was a guest on WLRN's "Topical Currents" show serving Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Marathon and Key West with host Joseph Cooper on August 19, 2009, to discuss the role independent voters are playing in reshaping American politics.



Use the above link to go to the IndependentVoting.org site.

Michael H. Drucker
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Justice Department rejects non-partisan voting in NC

On August 18, city officials in Kinston, North Carolina, received a letter from the U.S. Justice Department, saying the Department will not approve letting Kinston switch from partisan city elections to non-partisan city elections.

The voters had voted to switch to non-partisan elections in November 2008. Now the city must hold a partisan primary on September 15, 2009, and a partisan general election on November 3. Also, Earl Harper, a candidate who is an independent voter, must collect the signatures of 4% of the city’s registered voters in order to run. The signatures are due in September; Harper needs about 560 valid signatures.

Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the DOJ must approve voting changes in selected states and communities such as those in Lenoir County to ensure those changes would not hurt minority voters.

In a letter sent to City Attorney Jim Cauley late Monday, acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King stated “the elimination of party affiliation on the ballot will likely reduce the ability of blacks to elect candidates of choice.”

Use the above link to read the entire article by David Anderson on encToday.com.

Michael H. Drucker
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Gerson Not On NYC Absentee Ballot

The absentee ballots for the upcoming Democratic primary contests are starting to arrive in mailboxes throughout the city, and 1st CD voters might notice a glaring omission.

Despite the fact that a state Supreme Court justice restored his name to the ballot last week, incumbent Councilman Alan Gerson's name is nowhere to be seen.

The city Board of Elections says its longstanding policy is to print all absentee ballots immediately following the completion of hearings on challenges to candidates' designating petitions to ensure compliance with the legal requirement that the ballots be sent out 32 days prior to an election.

From Ballot Access News: This policy violates what the U.S. Supreme Court said in American Party of Texas v White. That 1974 decision upheld many Texas state ballot access laws, but the one victorious point in that case was that the U.S. Supreme Court said it violates the U.S. Constitution to omit a candidate (who is on the regular ballots) from absentee ballots. This part of the decision is on pages 794-795 in U.S. Reports.

Use the above link to read the entire article by Elizabeth Benjamin from the Daily News, The Daily Politics Blog.

Michael H. Drucker
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2009 NY Mayor Race Poster

If you are in NYC, Join Us:

August 22 - 23, 2009 - Harlem Week

September 7, 2009 - Brooklyn West Indian American Day Parade


September 20, 2009 - African American Day Parade

Michael H. Drucker
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Open The Primaries to Independent Voters!

40% of American voters now identify as independents. With more and more voters identifying with neither party, partisan primaries that bar independents are a serious barrier to free and fair elections.

In the 2008 election, 10.5 million independents were not able to vote in the presidential primaries in 17 states. For local offices, that number is even higher.

By contrast, In 33 open-primary states, 2.7 million independents gave Barack Obama his margin of victory, making him the first Democratic Party presidential nominee in history to clinch the nomination with the support of an outsider movement.

Use the above link to sign the Open Letter to President Obama sponsored by IndependentVoting.org. Ask him to support open primaries. It's the kind of change we can all get behind.

Michael H. Drucker
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SC Fusion Sore-Loser Statute

South Carolina law does not prohibit “electoral fusion,” which allows a candidate to be nominated by more than one certified political party for the same elected office in a partisan election. Candidates, therefore, may seek multiple party nominations for the same office.

But a candidate must be nominated and/or win all the primaries they enter to be on the ballot. So if you lose any of the primaries you are off the ballot, the “sore-loser statute.”

Michael H. Drucker
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The Albany Shake Up

From An Independent Point of View

If you are in NY on August 18, 2009, join us for a Politics for the People class.

The Special Guest will be State Senator Pedro Espada, Majority Leader.

The class will be from 6:30 - 8pm.

Space is limited, so RSVP to 212-962-1699

Michael H. Drucker
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Indys Defend Bloomberg As One Of Their Own

The task of defending Bloomberg's independent credentials has been taken up by leaders of the city Independence Party, who have endorsed the mayor for the third time and are now actively involved in his campaign.

The Independence Party has not official endorsed any other citywide candidates.

It is focusing its efforts solely on Bloomberg's re-election.

Every means available so far means mail and door-knocking at the homes of registered Independence Party members. Those who aren't home are greeted by this door hanger when they return. (There's also a Spanish-language version).

I collected the signatures in City Council District 4 North to help give the mayor the opportunity to appear on our line, Column "C".

Use the above link to read the entire article by Elizabeth Benjamin of the NY Daily News.

Michael H. Drucker
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Why Indie Voters Don't Make California Purple

In recent years, some pollsters, pundits and consultants have pointed to declines in partisan voter registration, along with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's two elections, to question California's reputation as a left-leaning "blue state" and to argue that it is in fact a post-partisan "purple state."

The Field Poll's release of a new study of 30 years of voting patterns last week offers further evidence that advocates for the post-partisan theory misread our history and attitudes. While Field's data confirm the long-term trend of voters increasingly bypassing both parties to register as independent declines-to-state, their analysis also shows that these independents reliably think and vote like Democrats most of the time.

Use the above link to read the entire article from Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts of the Calbuzz.com on the Huffington Post.

Michael H. Drucker
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NY IP and Oath Swearing

City candidates on Independence line in jeopardy as GOP sues!

The Albany city GOP — in the person of mayoral candidate Nathan Lebron — is suing in state Supreme Court to invalidate a bunch of the petition signatures filed by all four Democrats seeking to run for citywide office also on the Independence Party line.

Most interesting, however, is what exactly the GOP is alleging happened. Or didn’t.

In its court filing — currently before acting state Supreme Court Justice Richard M. Platkin — the GOP alleges that when Engstrom, an enrolled Democrat, collected petition signatures from Independence Party voters, he did not require signatories to swear an oath.

Use the above link to read the entire article by Jordan Carleo-Evangelist of the timesunion.com.

Update
ALBANY City Republicans succeeded Thursday in bouncing four Democrats including Mayor Jerry Jennings from the Independence Party ballot line after arguing that one of the candidates failed to administer a required oath to voters who signed his ballot petitions.

Acting state Supreme Court Justice Gerald W. Connelly agreed in an 11-page decision that struck Jennings, city Treasurer Betty Barnette and two other candidates for citywide office, Leif Engstrom and Carolyn McLaughlin, from the minor party line.

Michael H. Drucker
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