Primary Day
The general election is on the first or second Tuesday in November in every state. Primary elections are on different dates in each state. Primary elections have much lower voter participation than the general election, and almost every district is a "safe" seat for one of the major parties. When a small group of ideologically motivated primary voters select a candidate for the general election, they effectively choose the representative for everyone in the district. Until we eliminate partisan primaries, the best way to make a difference is running for office and voting in the dominant party primary.
Follow the link below for each state's Primary Date, Candidate Filing Deadline and Candidate Information Source: Primary Dates and filing Deadlines, 2024 at Ballotpedia.org Do you have community organizing and leadership experience? Consider running for state legislature as a non-partisan reformer in the dominant party primary. Or, Contact local non-partisan elected officials and encourage them to run. |
Run To Make A Difference
Encourage local town councilors, school trustees, and county commissioners to run for state legislature as non-partisan reformers in your district's dominant party primary. State legislatures have the main constitutional responsibility for regulating elections. Contact your local representatives with a message like this:
"I'm writing to encourage you to run for state legislature in 2022 with a platform including support for non-partisan election reform. I will support a candidate in the [dominant party] primary who works to eliminate partisan primaries and supports non-partisan reforms like non-partisan elections, majority voting, and independent redistricting. I look forward to hearing an announcement of your candidacy or receiving your recommendation for good candidates." Follow the links below to help you find your current state representatives and local elected officials. Find contact information on local town council, school board, and county government sites. Send messages encouraging your local elected representatives to run for state legislature as non-partisan reformers in your district's dominant party primary. Local Rep Greeting
Send your local representatives a holiday greeting encouraging them to run to make a difference in your district's dominant party primary.
★ Send a free holiday greeting e-card with eCardWidget.com and encourage your local representative to run for state legislature. ★ Print holiday greeting postcards from the .pdf file below and encourage your local representatives to run for state legislature.
★Order holiday greeting cards from Printful.com and encourage your local representatives to run for state legislature.
Greeting card
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Celebrate the holidays with the gift of democracy. Send this greeting card and encourage your local school trustees, town councilors, and county commissioners to run for state legislature as non-partisan reformers in your district's dominant party primary, the only election that matters!
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Vote To Make A Difference
Vote to make a difference by selecting the dominant party ballot in your district's primary election. Encourage every eligible voter to vote in the dominant party primary because it's the election that matters. Don't wait for the general election; your representatives have already been chosen for you. In the general election, vote for non-partisan reformers when you can.
Follow these links for election calendars: Statewide Elections Calendar at Ballotpedia.org |
The Only Election That Matters
No matter how fairly we draw district lines, one of the major parties has an advantage in almost every electoral district. The winner of the dominant party primary is almost guaranteed to win the general election. So, until we eliminate partisan primaries, the dominant party primary is the only election that matters. This flaw in our elections is one of the biggest reasons for the polarization, gridlock, and dysfunction that poison our politics and government. Follow the links below to read more about the problem with our elections and solutions that non-partisan reformers can enact in your state legislature.
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Unite America
Gerrymandering and partisan self-sorting have created "safe seats," in which the winner of the primary is all but guaranteed to win the general. In other words, the primary election is the only election that matters.
Read more at https://www.uniteamerica.org/strategy/nonpartisan-primarieswww.uniteamerica.org/strategy/nonpartisan-primaries Read The Primary Problem: How partisan primaries disenfranchise voters, distort representation, and fuel political division at UniteAmerica.org. Harvard Business Review
For more than 80% of U.S. House seats, the party primary is the only election that matters, because in the general election the seat is “safe” for one party regardless of who the candidate might be.
From "Fixing U.S. Politics: What business can—and must—do to revitalize democracy" by Katherine M. Gehl and Michael E. Porter. Harvard Business Review - From the Magazine (July–August 2020). Read more at https://hbr.org/2020/07/fixing-u-s-politics |
Yale News
What’s changed is the steady increase in safe seats for the both parties in the House and Senate. If a seat is safe for the party, this means that the only election that matters is the primary. That’s what produces polarization: The primary voters are pulling candidates toward the fringes. If you ignore your party’s fringe, then you’ll get knocked off in the primary. It creates incentives to demonize opponents and embrace extreme policies.
From "Polarization in U.S. politics starts with weak political parties" by Mike Cummings. Yale News November 17, 2020. Read more at https://news.yale.edu/2020/11/17/polarization-us-politics-starts-weak-political-parties |