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Independent Voters Alliance (IVA)

Our Voices: A New Social Paradigm

Why Extreme Voter Apathy?

Voters Don't Matter in Two-Party Politics!!

Closed Primaries Attract Very Few Voters or Poll Workers!! About 70% have no vote in choosing Candidates? Every State!! So 99% Feel Little Connection to Elections or to The Elected! Vote by Mail, everyone?

Open Ballot Access and Equal Political Speech

By Rich Stevenson ©May 20, 2019

Interim Acting Male Co-Chair of the USAIVA and the Jefferson County KYIVA

 

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IVA LeadershipTomorrow is Primary Election Day in Kentucky, May 21, 2019. A sad day, with a very low 12% voter turnout expected. No one is excited about being poll workers either, 13 hours work for $200.00. The Primary is 45 Republican Poll workers short in Jefferson County, with 25 calling in to cancel working in the polls for the Republican Party during the few weeks before the election. The Board of Elections is considering an emergency Poll Worker Training to get enough people trained to work the primaries this year.

Very sad indeed. I am registered as an Independent, so have no voice in either closed D or R Primary Election. My brother is registered as an R, but would much rather have a voice in choosing the D opponent to Governor Bevis and Butthead (Bevin), who my brother and I hate for all his radical positions on issues. In the General Election my brother and I will vote for anyone but Governor Butthead (Bevin). For me, I may vote for the Libertarian if he is on the Primary Ballot. I will print up the ballot tomorrow to see if my brother or I have any reason to go vote. Like 88% of voters, we are somewhat likely to not waste our time on voting. An establishment D, or an establishment R who supports Donald Trump, who we both disrespect, give us no choice. Why bother. I have a non-establishment favorite in the Democratic Primary. But I cannot vote in that primary.

Freedom of Choice Blocked: In Kentucky all registered voters are stuck in the party they chose in the previous year. No party changes are allowed during the current election year. Most voters dislike both parties, but are forced to choose a D or R Primary Ballot if they want to have a vote in at least one of the two primaries allowed in the state. KY law severely restricts voter choices to give complete control and power to the two parties that 99% of the voters do not trust. Little wonder the Closed Primaries attract so few voters and Poll Workers.

We are in the habit of not being involved in closed partisan elections. 70% of eligible voters are registered D or R in name only. Very few want to give full support to either D or R Party. We would much rather vote in every Primary and General Election that is on the ballot. We want totally Open Elections with no partisan restrictions. When Primary Elections allow every eligible voter to vote we will have more reason to vote. We will attract candidates who better represent the interests of the 99% and the nation. Our votes will then count and we will vote in every election. For now, our elections are sadly unrepresentative.

 

Have a Voice: Make our elections proudly representative in a robustly democratic republic. Enact the two solutions below into law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky (KY) and in every state:

Solution 1: FFV, Final Five Voting elects the five candidates with the most votes in the Open Primary to advance to the General Election. All eligible voters will be able to cast a vote on every Primary Election candidate. We could have Final Five Open Primaries with Ranked Choice Voting To decide General Elections in all fifty states to give all voters a voice in every election.1 (A general referendum on every candidate elected.)

Solution 2: Vote-by-Mail!2 Mail a ballot to all eligible voters in every Primary and General Election in all fifty states. Count 100% of votes from all voters.3 (A general referendum on every candidate elected.)

If you work the Primary Election polls now, too many poll workers are processing too few voters, with over half of the time spent doing nothing. (General Election turnout is usually not much better.) Every candidate on the General Election Ballot in November is chosen by these pitiful unrepresentative Primary Elections. A majority of eligible voters do not elect any candidate in Primary or General Elections. Our elections are extremely undemocratic. Voters have no power in our elections. No Voice!! In all fifty states!! Your state included!! A large number of winners run unopposed. No choice there.

Numbers for voter turnout in Primaries are similar in all fifty states, for much the same reasons. D's and R's do not represent the 99%. The people know they are not represented. As few as 5% vote in Primary Elections. This is the complete reason for Voter Apathy. Why not Vote-By-Mail? Mail a ballot to all eligible voters in all fifty states. Get Out the Vote (GOTV). Occupy Elections. Everybody Vote by mail! Have a voice.

 

Voter Apathy: The 99% have not had their interests represented since the Great Depression under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the long ago 1930s.  (Thru 1952 under Harry S. Truman.) We know. So we don't vote. There are very few good popular choices on our ballots so elections are decided by random unmotivated 50% chance, by frustrated "lesser of two evils" voters. DNC and RNC endorsed candidates do not represent us. Wall Street Billionaires control both political parties, undemocratic elections, and public policy. “We must become proactive good citizens to have a voice in public policy.” Occupy Elections. Everybody Vote! Vote-by-mail, everybody? Vote by mail has already worked very well in several states for many years.

  

We must take power from (and within) the D and R parties to have open elections so all voters have a vote in all elections. Elect populist candidates voters put on the ballot to defeat establishment D and R candidates. Occupy Elections. Everybody Vote! “We must become proactive good citizens to have a voice in public policy.” Unite America. Sign the Pledge  OCCUPY   Print/Share

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Your Voice USAIVA Gdoc Leadership Form

Welcome to the populist Proactive Voter Movement. Read the national IVA web pages at cs2pr.us/hamco/usaiva. Sign the pledge. Join The Proactive Voter Movement. Have a Voice. Unite America. "E Pluribis Unum."

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rls/May 20, 2019 | Feb 19, 2024 | Jan,01, 2025

edit date: June 12, 2019; June 26, 2019; August 26, 2019; December 12, 2019; January 25, 2020; May 01, 2020; May 06, 2020; July 11, 2022; August 27, 2022; April 16, 2023; May 10,2023; June 28, 2023; September 19, 2023; Feb 19, 2024, Jan 01, 2025.

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OCCUPY  One Vote    OCCUPY  Print/Share

We can elect candidates who represent the economic
interests shared by 99.999% of our citizens. Not the 0.001 of 1.0%!

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We Are The 99.999%!

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Everybody Vote

 

Our Voices: A New Social Paradigm

The Proactive Voter Movement:

     “...with Liberty and Justice for All”

Who are the 99.999%?

Why Extreme Voter Apathy?

The Vote-by-Mail Resolution!

Wealth Inequality In America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM

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Footnote:

1. The Politics Industry, Gehl/Porter, Harvard Business Review Press, 2020: Learn more at https://gehlporter.com and Institute for Political Innovation: https://political-innovation.org/final-five-voting/ - FFV, Final Five Voting.

Video(2min): https://youtu.be/wvMrvjiciBw .

Reforms

2. A Democratic Republic! The Vote-by-Mail Resolution! , IVA Opinion, Richard L. Stevenson, May 01, 2020.

The 99% Can Vote Any Day at Home. End Voter Suppression By the DNC and the RNC! Create Open Final Five Nonpartisan Primary Elections to Build Consensus on Public Policy.

(https://cs2pr.us/IVA_Opinion/VoteByMail.html)

Reforms  

3. Forward Party: https://www.forwardparty.com/ , Join

Forward, Notes on the Future of Our Democracy, Andrew Yang, Crown, New York, 2021. "Civic Juries" mentioned by Yang would be completely fulfilled in the nonpartisan Proactive Voter Movement and would be supported by "The Proactive Voter Pledge" presented in the proactive pamphlet. The  Local IVAs are "Civic Juries" in action.  https://cs2pr.us/Proactive_Pledge.html#99% . Become a Proactive Voter. Occupy elections. Unite America.

Reforms

 

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