Post by Logan on Jun 26, 2016 2:27:46 GMT -6
TALLAHASSEE -- Leon County taxpayers will spend more than $606,000 this year for Democratic and Republican parties’ primaries – members’ only affairs. In exchange for the money, they can expect two presidential candidates that a record number of Americans don’t like and two congressional elections in districts so gerrymandered that half of the voters effectively have no say in who will represent their interests in Washington next year.
“I think it’s time we ask why we allow the political parties to dominate the elections,” said Ion Sancho, Leon County Supervisor of Elections. “Voting is the most basic civil right; no other rights stand if you don’t get to vote who represents you in government.”
Sancho is a nationally recognized voter advocate who is credited with creating early voting and is in the final months of a 28-year career as the county’s elections chief. He and academics and political players say dissatisfaction with the two major parties is at an all-time high — a view backed by numerous national polls.
“It has been building for some years with large and growing numbers of people not identifying or registering with either major parties, particularly millennials,” said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor. “The negative approval ratings, distrust of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have brought the dislike of the major parties into full view.”
Read more: www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/26/group-wants-primaries-all/86039876/
“I think it’s time we ask why we allow the political parties to dominate the elections,” said Ion Sancho, Leon County Supervisor of Elections. “Voting is the most basic civil right; no other rights stand if you don’t get to vote who represents you in government.”
Sancho is a nationally recognized voter advocate who is credited with creating early voting and is in the final months of a 28-year career as the county’s elections chief. He and academics and political players say dissatisfaction with the two major parties is at an all-time high — a view backed by numerous national polls.
“It has been building for some years with large and growing numbers of people not identifying or registering with either major parties, particularly millennials,” said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor. “The negative approval ratings, distrust of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have brought the dislike of the major parties into full view.”
Read more: www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/26/group-wants-primaries-all/86039876/