To: Ken Bennett, Sec. of State, Citizens Clean Election Commission, and Governor Doug Ducey
Fair Elections for AZ Citizens
My name is Allen Richards and I am a resident of Arizona. As all of America is aware Arizona has passed some very controversial laws. Now, our state government is blind siding the public with a new proposed bill.
The proposed bill is called the Open Election/Open Government initiative. The goal is aimed at how we will be able to elect our political leaders in all government offices. It would also amend our states constitution.
The concept of the Open Election/Open Government would have the Republican and Democratic candidates both all on one primary ballot. Then the top two who gets the most votes would go on the general election. Granted in theory the idea sounds good. However, in reality it would create a system where two Republican candidates, or two Democratic candidates, would be running for the same office. This would affect many voters by forcing them to elect politicians that basically represent only their own party’s platforms. This would give our legislators no reason to truly represent all of their constituents.
The Arizona Republic newspaper, who supports it, didn’t even write an article about this issue until they had the signatures to put it on the November ballot. Only business interest groups seemed to have known about this proposed bill; which mostly appears to support it. Many voters will know nothing about this initiative until they read it on a sample ballot that is written by the same politicians that support the bill.
If passed, Arizona will be the only state that would have a one primary election which could encourage other states to follow. The AFL-CIO, League of Women Voters, The Republican and Democratic National Parties disagree with a one open primary; as it takes away true options from citizens. On August 6th a judge even stated it was unconstitutional. However, some politicians may still want to pursue the initiative; now being called the Jungle Primary.
The signatures and comments will be sent to Gov. Jan Brewer, Sec. of State Ken Bennett, and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Perhaps if we get enough signatures we could stop the proposed bill once and for all or at least to tell Gov. Jan Brewer and Sec. of State Ken Bennett to start informing the people of the initiative in a fair and unbiased manner. Thank You.
The proposed bill is called the Open Election/Open Government initiative. The goal is aimed at how we will be able to elect our political leaders in all government offices. It would also amend our states constitution.
The concept of the Open Election/Open Government would have the Republican and Democratic candidates both all on one primary ballot. Then the top two who gets the most votes would go on the general election. Granted in theory the idea sounds good. However, in reality it would create a system where two Republican candidates, or two Democratic candidates, would be running for the same office. This would affect many voters by forcing them to elect politicians that basically represent only their own party’s platforms. This would give our legislators no reason to truly represent all of their constituents.
The Arizona Republic newspaper, who supports it, didn’t even write an article about this issue until they had the signatures to put it on the November ballot. Only business interest groups seemed to have known about this proposed bill; which mostly appears to support it. Many voters will know nothing about this initiative until they read it on a sample ballot that is written by the same politicians that support the bill.
If passed, Arizona will be the only state that would have a one primary election which could encourage other states to follow. The AFL-CIO, League of Women Voters, The Republican and Democratic National Parties disagree with a one open primary; as it takes away true options from citizens. On August 6th a judge even stated it was unconstitutional. However, some politicians may still want to pursue the initiative; now being called the Jungle Primary.
The signatures and comments will be sent to Gov. Jan Brewer, Sec. of State Ken Bennett, and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Perhaps if we get enough signatures we could stop the proposed bill once and for all or at least to tell Gov. Jan Brewer and Sec. of State Ken Bennett to start informing the people of the initiative in a fair and unbiased manner. Thank You.
Why is this important?
To allow all Citizens of Az a fair and equal voice in electing political officals