Reply to Ballot initiative would allow independents to vote in primaries

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our city council would look pretty different if this was adopted[/quote]

Would it? Don't get me wrong - I'm in favor of the ballot initiative - but if the city's 80,000 registered independents were [i]that[/i] jazzed about voting in primaries, they'd register as a democrat, wouldn't they? The Venn diagram of people who register as independent, but want to vote in primaries and refuse to register as democrats for some reason has to be like 3 cranks on DCUM.[/quote]

It would make a huge difference. Many of these jokers get elected with barely any votes. Nadeau won her primary with 7,000 votes. There’s 80,000 independents. You don’t need many of them to vote to dramatically change the electorate.
[/quote]

Okay, but you realize that there aren't 80,000 independents who 1) [i]can[/i] vote in Ward 1, and 2) [i]want[/i] to vote in the Ward 1 primary, right? Brienne Nadeau won her primary by ~3,000 votes. BOEE data indicates about ~10,000 registered independents in Ward 1. How many of those Ward 1 independents even vote in the general? How many of those Ward 1 independents are super engaged and really, [i]really[/i] want to vote in the primary, but have some weird philosophical opposition to affiliating themselves? Probably not enough to change the outcome of the primary.

Again, I'm on board with open primaries! I think they're great. But if you think this is going to make "a huge difference," you're deluding yourself.[/quote]

The notion that independent voters don’t matter would come as news to every presidential campaign ever[/quote]

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