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Open Primaries was founded in 2009.
Back then, our mission to empower independent voters was ridiculed.
But we were undeterred. And 15 years later, we have succeeded in
“mainstreaming” the importance of letting all voters vote.
But success in the social change arena is a funny thing. It
means we have more, not less, hard work in front of us.
There is now a mainstream debate
taking place: on Bill Maher’s
show, in the Wall St. Journal and all over local media. New leaders,
organizations, think tanks and coalitions are emerging at the state
and national level to tackle the difficult tasks of a) opening the
primaries to all voters and b) reversing years of declining voter
involvement in the primaries. Check out this article about our friend Bradley Tusk’s efforts to
use mobile voting to dramatically increase primary turnout and
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt’s recent letter on why our work matters so
much.
As Holt lays out: “The root of our dysfunctionality is in fact
the
way we elect our
leaders.” This isn’t just
some wonky policy debate. It’s about creating the conditions for
growth, progress and innovation in our communities.
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