In Arizona, Independent voters are now the largest voting group in the state though aren't allowed to vote in Republican or Democrat primaries. Independent voters say they shouldn't be forced to join either of the two political parties. Nationally, 39% of voters now identify as Independent-NPR, Feb. 2016

2/28/2016, "Sick Of Political Parties, Unaffiliated Voters Are Changing Politics," npr.org, Sago, Markus, Joffe-Block

"Independent Voters In Colorado, Florida And Arizona"

"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.
 
Turned off by the partisan wars in Washington, 39 percent of voters now identify themselves as independent rather than affiliated with one of the two major political parties, according to a 2014 analysis by the Pew Research Center. Self-identified Democrats accounted for 32 percent of the electorate, Republicans 23 percent. 

That's a big shift from as recently as 2004, when the electorate was nearly evenly divided into thirds by the three groups.

 



But many states require voters to affiliate with a party in order to take part in presidential primaries and caucuses....

Arizona: Independent Voters Try To Organize 

It may sound like an oxymoron, but Arizona's unaffiliated, independent voters are organizing themselves and banding together.

Independents are now the largest voting group in the state, and that trend is only growing. For the past three years, the number of voters registering or re-registering as independent has outpaced new Republican and Democratic registrations combined. 

But the last voter registration period that ended Feb. 22 (2016) was different. The number of independents in Arizona dropped slightly. 

That's likely because unaffiliated voters can't participate in Arizona's upcoming (2016) presidential primary, and some independents chose a party for that reason.

The rule that excludes independents from the presidential primary is just one example of what independents here find to be unfair about the state's voting system.

Now this growing group of voters wants more rights at the polls, and they are trying to change that through grass-roots pressure. 

Patrick McWhortor of the group Open Primaries organized a phone "town hall" last month for independent voters that nearly 13,000 people called into to discuss these efforts.

"Independent voters, now 37 percent of all Arizona registered voters, are treated like second-class citizens," said McWhortor at the start of the meeting.

He discussed his group's efforts to get two election reform initiatives on the November ballot. One would make a single primary election with every candidate on the same ballot. The top two candidates would advance regardless of party affiliation. The initiative would also reduce current barriers for independents running for office.

Deb Gain-Braley, a 57-year-old retired accountant in Tempe, became interested in independent voting rights issues after she realized that she would not be able to vote in Arizona's March 22 presidential primary unless she re-registered again with a party. She had previously been registered as a Republican.

"I think that no one should have to choose a party to vote in America," Gain-Braley said. "So I went looking to see if there were any other organizations arguing against what's going on."

In addition to the Open Primaries group, Gain-Braley also discovered Independent Voters for Arizona, a campaign focused on opening the presidential primary to independents that she now volunteers for. The group got more than 30,000 people to sign a letter to party leaders asking them to open the primary. So far those calls have not been heeded, and the primaries will remain closed this year.

Timothy Castro, who runs Independent Voters for Arizona, argues it's not fair to exclude Arizona's 1.2 million voters from a presidential primary paid for with taxpayer dollars.

"If we are paying for something we aren't allowed to vote in, then let us vote in it, or don't make me pay for it," Castro said.

In fact, independents may have more luck getting out of paying for the primary in future years rather than actually voting in it.

A bill making its way through the Arizona Legislature would make political parties — not taxpayers — pick up the tab for presidential primaries starting in 2020. The bill is backed by the secretary of state's office.

If the bill succeeds, it will still leave independent voters to find a way into future presidential primaries here."

- "Jude Joffe-Block, KJZZ, Phoenix"


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