The Purple Principle

“I like to say the stars are aligned for open primaries right now,” says South Dakota Open Primaries Director Joe Kirby. “I think there’s a realization that closed primaries simply don’t make sense when you’re in a single party state.”

“I also think that Open Primaries will foster a more representative and functional government,” adds De Knudson, former Sioux Falls City Councilor and Co-Director of “Amendment H” - an effort to create a single unified primary of all candidates from which the top two advance to the general election. This 2024 South Dakota measure is more modest than reforms advanced by the same team eight years ago which failed by ten points on Election Day.

“We learned a valuable lesson in 2016,” admits Kirby, a business entrepreneur also involved in political reform efforts for three decades. “We tried to do two things at once. We tried to bring open primaries to South Dakota at the same time we tried to remove party labels.” 

In this episode, John Opdycke, Founder and President of the national organization Open Primaries, explains why the 2024 crop of non-partisan election reforms is more robust and more diverse. 

“Part of what I think is so healthy is that the national groups are saying, Hey, let us show you our research, let us show you what this looks like from up looking down,” says Opdycke, one of the nation’s foremost experts on election reform. “And the local people say, great, that's really helpful. Let us show you what our local polling looks like. Let us show you what our political culture looks like.” 

For Joe Kirby, De Knudson and many other supporters, Amendment H is an effort to turn away from political extremism and divisiveness and back toward traditional South Dakota values. 

“I really love South Dakota,” says Knudson. “I care lots about government. I just knew that I didn't have a choice. I had to give this one more shot, and I really am confident that we will win this on November 5th.”

Tune in to find out more about the 2024 South Dakota open primaries initiative– past lessons learned and prospects for passage this year. 

This episode is part of our season long series on state level non partisan election reform ballot measures in 2024– from Washington DC to Alaska with numerous states in between– Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, South Dakota, and, next up, Arizona.

With a record number of state level reforms this year, stay tuned to see if the stars align in South Dakota and on a national level.

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production; original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.

In this bonus episode we revisit the vast nation-sized state of Alaska, model for election reform in numerous states around the country even as that voting system of an open, unified primary plus instant runoff general election faces a potential 2024 recall ballot measure back in the frontier state. 

The Purple Principle has made three previous audio visits to Alaska, arguably our least partisan, most indy-minded state with 60% of voters choosing not to register with either major party. We first revisit our initial Alaska episode from the fall of 2020 to learn how campaign manager, Shea Siegert, was persuaded to take on that challenge by his own family’s enthusiasm for non-partisan voting reform.

“I was having a conversation with my mother who lives in Boise, Idaho the other day,” Siegert confides. “And she said, every time I look at the news, I think about your ballot measure. And it just makes more and more sense.”

Next we hear from independent Alaska House Member Calvin Schrage in the fall of 2022 as the Alaska voting model is put to the test for the first time. That election produced a pragmatic split ticket outcome with reelection of conservative governor Mike DunLeavey, moderate indy-minded US Senator Lisa Murkowski, and the pragmatic centrist House Democrat, Mary Peltola. 

Our recent season four discussion with Native Alaskan Mary Peltola completes our trek across three episodes, highlighted by the advice she received some years before upon election to the Alaska state legislature. 

“So when I was first elected, I was in my mid-twenties and I imagined, like most people do, that I was going to Juneau to fight, to fight against our enemies and fight for my district,” Peltola tells us. “And when I got there, one of my colleagues told me you have to have 59 best friends if you want to accomplish anything.”

Tune in to find out how Rep. Peltola broke bread across the political aisles in this bonus episode with Alaska-related insights from Katherine Gehl, architect of Final Five Voting, Eric Bronner of Veterans for All Voters, as well as Doug Goodman of Nevadans for Better Elections and Lisa Rice of Make All Votes Count DC, both of whom have looked to Alaska as a model for their own reform efforts. 

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production; original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.

It was nearing summer temperatures on this early June primary voting day outside a polling station in Washington, DC. Lisa Rice, official Proposer of Initiative 83, is wearing a sandwich board with the message, “Ask Me Why I Can’t Vote Today?” “Why can’t you vote today?” asks a woman on her way to vote. “Because I’m an independent,” Lisa replies. “ I'm not affiliated with the Democratic party or the Republican party and we're barred from voting in the primary…”

“All day people came up to me and asked at every polling place,” Lisa tells us in this extended episode introducing several members of the Make All Votes Count DC team. “So people definitely wanted to know why and it was great conversations all day long.”

We also meet Philip Pannell, Make All Vote Votes Count Treasurer, on this episode. A long time Democratic Party official and activist, Philip was widely recognized at the Capital Pride Parade where we met him. Yet despite his storied credentials, Philip’s encountered no small amount of negative reaction to his support for Initiative 83 from longtime Democratic Party colleagues.

“Independents are pretty much left out of the decision making because all the action is pretty much in the Democratic Party,” Philip tells us, adding he still believes the Democratic party is the best vehicle for opportunity and justice. “They like to say that if you want to participate in our primary, you have to be a Democrat. That's not forward of thinking, that's not bringing more people in.”

Kenyatta Smith is a District Outreach Coordinator for the predominantly African American areas in East D.C, where gentrification creates added challenges for Initiative 83 outreach. “I want to keep it black too,” Kenyatta confides. “I want us to be in power still. I feel strongly about that. But I also want to challenge my community to educate themselves on something new.”

Meet these and other members of the Make All Votes Count DC team this episode, another in our series on the record number of non-partisan election reform initiatives in play for the 2024 election. And learn how leadership and teamwork have come together behind the Initiative 83 effort, now in its final stages of signature collection for the November 2024 Washington DC voter ballot. 

SHOW NOTES

Our Guests:

From Make All Votes Count DC: Lisa D. T. Rice (Proposer of Ballot Initiative 83), Philip Pannell (Treasurer), Kenyatta Smith (District Coordinator), Miguel Deramo (Steering Committee Member), and Nate Roseboro (Volunteer Petitioner). 

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Make All Votes Count DC social media accounts:

Make All Votes Count DC Twitter

Make All Votes Count DC Instagram

Make All Votes Count DC Facebook

Additional Resources / Fact Checking:

Ballotpedia – Initiative 83

Wikipedia – Initiative 83

Party affiliation among adults in the Washington, DC metro area. Pew Research Center (2014). 

About Us. Make All Votes Count DC. 

Registrant Disclosure for Make All Votes Count DC. The District of Columbia - Office of Campaign Finance E-Filing. 

End Taxation Without Representation Tags. DC Department of Motor Vehicles. 

Phillip Pannell, Longtime LGBTQIA+ Activist, Leader, Emphasizes Continued Advocacy for Local Communities. Washington Informer. 

In April of 2024, Luke Mayville, co-founder of the grassroots organization ReClaim Idaho, addressed volunteers on the final day of signature gathering for this year’s Open Primaries and Final Four Voting ballot initiative. 

“We are here today because we are tired of playing the same old game under a broken set of rules,” Luke told the 50 or so volunteers gathered in Boise’s IvyWild Park that morning. 

“The root of the problem,” Mayville stated, “ is the fact that there are 270,000 independent voters who are blocked from voting in the most important primary elections. And the root of the problem is that we don't even have competitive general elections.”

Continuing our Purple Principle (TPP) series on the record number of nonpartisan state-level election reform efforts in 2024, this episode profiles the coalition working to advance Idaho’s Open Primary initiative. The initiative is patterned in part after the Alaska “Final Four Voting” model first proposed by Katherine Gehl, author, business leader, and TPP guest earlier this season. 

Margaret Kinzel of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, or MWEG, represents another important member of this non-partisan coalition. “ One of the things that helped me sign on to being active in this effort was hearing how many of our races are uncontested in the 2022 election,”  Margaret explains. “Nine of the 38 districts, the race for state senator and the two-state representatives were uncontested. So you had no choice to vote for; you either voted for the candidate or you didn't.”

Retired Attorney General and former Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice, Jim Jones, is another important coalition leader. “After the 2022 Alaska election, “Jones explains, “ it appeared to me that this was the answer to Idaho's problem because we had gotten so involved in culture wars, and the culture warriors were essentially picked by the Republican Party, which had been taken over by extremists.”

Tune in to learn more about the Idaho coalition that collected and submitted over 90 thousand signatures toward election reform in a largely conservative state and meet coalition leaders Luke Mayville (Reclaim Idaho), Margaret Wentzl (Mormon Women for Ethical Government) and former Idaho Supreme Court Justice Jim Jones. 

Sometimes a village is not enough and it takes a broad coalition to take on “a broken election system.”

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production; original music by Ryan Adair Rooney. 

SHOW NOTES

Our Guests:

Luke Mayville, Co-founder Reclaim Idaho. Margaret Kinzel, Co-Liasson, Mormon Women For Ethical Government. Jim Jones, Former Attorney General Idaho. 

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Resources: 

https://www.reclaimidaho.org/

https://www.mormonwomenforethicalgovernment.org/

https://idahocapitalsun.com/author/jim-jones/

 https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/05/01/having-exceeded-goal-idaho-open-primary-supporters-submit-final-signatures-for-verification/

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/04/24/idaho-open-primary-supporters-make-final-push-before-may-1-deadline/

https://sos.idaho.gov/elect/primary_elections_in_idaho.html

https://represent.us/2024-campaigns/idaho-final-four-voting/

https://store.hbr.org/product/the-politics-industry-how-political-innovation-can-break-partisan-gridlock-and-save-our-democracy/10367

https://sos.idaho.gov/elect/stcon/article_I.html#:~:text=All%20men%20are%20by%20nature,POWER%20INHERENT%20IN%20THE%20PEOPLE

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/05/23/almost-24-of-idahos-registered-voters-voted-in-primary-election-initial-estimates-show/

Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry and Founder of The Institute for Political Innovation, has always asked herself what she needed “to do in order to change the political situation.”

“So at first I needed to sell my business,” Katherine tells us. “Then I needed to make the intellectual  case.. And then I needed to try to sell this reform to people. It just went like that.”

Today, in 2024, after many years of effort and adaptation, Katherine Gehl’s Final Four or Final Five voting initiatives are now poised to be on the ballot in another four states (Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Colorado) having passed in Alaska back in 2020, which then held the first such election in 2022.  

Katherine recounts that in the time she’s been working on these reforms, “going all the way back to 2013, but really trying to raise money actively since 2015, the reception has changed dramatically.”

In this episode, which launches our extended series on 2024 election reform initiatives, we’ll learn how non-partisan, competition-based election reform has gained traction among donors, reformers and voters alike. We’ll also get a better understanding of how her institute and action fund “catalyze” grassroots leaders in reform-minded states, such the former Idaho Attorney General Jim Jones and Reclam Idaho founder Luke Mayhew. 

“The combination of someone like Luke with Jim Jones is a bit of a dream that you could put that together,” Katherine recounts, while also detailing emerging efforts in Colorado and Montana and the second ballot initiative in Nevada this cycle as required by the state constitution. 

Will this be the year Final Five Voting moves onto the national stage and transforms the incentives of elected officials in these pathbreaking states? 

Tune in to learn more from Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry (with Harvard Business School Professor, Michael Porter) and a central catalyst in the nation’s growing non-partisan election reform movement. 

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production. Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.  

SHOW NOTES

Our Guest:

Katherine Gehl, Reform Strategist & Founder, The Institute for Political Innovation (IPI)

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Resources: 

Institute for Political Innovation 

https://hbr.org/2020/07/fixing-u-s-politics

https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_election_results,_2022

https://www.uniteamericainstitute.org/research/alaskas-election-model-how-the-top-four-nonpartisan-primary-system-improves-participation-competition-and-representation

https://store.hbr.org/product/the-politics-industry-how-political-innovation-can-break-partisan-gridlock-and-save-our-democracy/10367

https://www.veteransforallvoters.org/

https://ballotpedia.org/Nevada_Question_3,_Top-Five_Ranked-Choice_Voting_Initiative_(2022)

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/after-restructuring-is-nevada-ranked-choice-ballot-measure-ready-for-election

https://vote.nyc/page/ranked-choice-voting

https://www.rcvmontana.org/petition

https://rcvforcolorado.org/

https://idahocapitalsun.com/author/jim-jones/

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/05/01/having-exceeded-goal-idaho-open-primary-supporters-submit-final-signatures-for-verification/

https://www.reclaimidaho.org/

https://www.reclaimidaho.org/medicaid

https://kentthiry.com/about/

https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/rankedchoicefaq.html

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/03/11/proposed-constitutional-amendment-to-block-ranked-choice-voting-fails-in-idaho-house/

https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/01/wisconsin-republican-voting-senate-assembly-legislation-bill-watch/

“The Presidential race might get thrown into the House of Representatives,” says Dr. Sam Wang of the Princeton Gerrymandering Initiative in this episode. “And in the House of Representatives, every state gets one vote.” 

Both a neuroscientist and recognized authority on gerrymandering, Wang is highlighting the connection between partisan gerrymanders in states throughout the country and following on effects at the national level in the US House but potentially also the White House. 

“And certainly when I’ve done cases involving congressional delegations, a piece of it is the one Sam mentioned,” echoes Paul Smith, Senior Vice President at Campaign Legal Center. “Who’s going to control the delegation for this particularly unusual house resolution of presidential elections?”

In this two-guest episode, we’ll discuss the strategies behind partisan gerrymanders and the leading defenses against them. These include lawsuits argued by Paul Smith and other litigators and the establishment of independent redistricting commissions at the state level.

“A well-crafted citizens commission that's non-partisan is always going to do a more fair and balanced job than a partisan legislature,” says Smith, citing the cases of California and Michigan. 

“Right now, we’re stuck playing small ball, getting small things locally like, say, rank choice voting or redistricting reform,” explains Sam Wang, whose gerrymandering report cards are often cited in legal cases. “The long game is to start implementing some of the bigger reforms and repairs.”

Tune in for two informed views on how the tide is turning against partisan gerrymandering in critical states like Wisconsin and how plugging the gerrymander leak in one state prevents even more significant problems at the national level. 

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production; original music by Ryan Adair Rooney. 

SHOW NOTES

Our Guests:

Sam Wang, Founder & Director, Princeton Gerrymandering Project.

Paul Smith, Senior Vice President Campaign Legal Center. 

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Resources: 

https://campaignlegal.org/

https://gerrymander.princeton.edu/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/11/09/house-democrats-got-more-votes-than-house-republicans-yet-boehner-says-hes-got-a-mandate/

https://history.house.gov/Institution/Election-Statistics/

https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Congressional_elections_results,_2012

https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2012/results/house.html

npost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-says-federal-courts-dont-have-a-role-in-deciding-partisan-gerrymandering-claims/2019/06/27/2fe82340-93ab-11e9-b58a-a6a9afaa0e3e_story.html

https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/initiative-and-referendum-states

https://www.michigan.gov/micrc/about/meet-the-commissioners

https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-constitution/section-11.1

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/us/redistricting-map-utah-salt-lake-city.html

https://apnews.com/article/utah-redistricting-3cb3fb05e7253f3ec3d26749138bea9e

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/01/wisconsin-supreme-court-rejects-democrats-congressional-redistricting-challenge-00144529

The 700-plus attendees at the 2024 Principles First Summit in Washington DC come from various locations and backgrounds yet attended this event for similar political reasons: all are concerned about authoritarian trends within today’s GOP. 

Blaire Egan, for example, had been questioning her GOP political orientation since interning on Capitol Hill for a Republican legislator. Jeff Mayhew points to congressional gridlock, especially within the US House, as a major obstacle to functional, representative government. Mike Cantwell has long been a politically engaged military veteran working on election reform, among other issues, from an independent perspective. 

These are a few of the many attendees Producer Alex Couraud interviewed at this year’s Summit, held the same weekend as the Trump-dominated CPAC.  Tune in to this season four episode to move beyond simplistic labels of red vs. blue, Republican vs. Democrat, and learn about various efforts looking to shore up American democracy at this difficult time. 

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production—original music by Ryan Adair Rooney. 

SHOW NOTES

Our Guests:

Jeff Mayhugh, Blair Egan, Liam Kerr, and Mike Cantwell 

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“I’m still in it to hold a mirror up to my GOP colleagues,” former RNC Chair Michael Steele tells us in this episode. “To show them how unLincolnlike they have become.”

Michael Steele has borne painful witness to that transformation over the past two-plus decades as the first African American Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, then RNC Chair in 2009-2011, as well as US Senate Candidate. 

Steele may have been one of the first prominent Republicans to push back on the populist redirection of the party back in 2009 when he tussled with popular right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh over who led the Republican party. 

“It did say a lot about a base that had become very animated and defensively protective,” Steele recalls of the pushback from that episode, including a drop in RNC fundraising.

Steele reexamines that moment in recent GOP history and reflects on a GOP today that, in his view, has turned its back on conservative principles of personal liberty and freedom, and also long-held Republican positions on US foreign policy. 

“Reagan is probably looking at their dance with Putin, Orban and others, going: who are these people?”

Join us for an informed, concerned discussion with Michael Steele, now an MSNBC host and commentator, on why Americans need to stay civically engaged despite the political theatrics of this 2024 election year and our current political era. 

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production; original music by Ryan Adair Rooney. 

SHOW NOTES

Our Guest

Micheal Steele, MSNCB Political Analyst, Former RNC Chairman, and Former Lt. Gov, (Maryland). Twitter.

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“I'm the only candidate that was Head of the DEA, that was in charge of border security in the Bush administration, governor for eight years,” says our featured guest, Asa Hutchinson. 

Yet despite possessing perhaps the most impressive resume among GOP presidential candidates, Hutchinson failed to receive substantial media attention or garner significant support from  Iowa caucus goers.

There's just so much happening in his world that you have to say is newsworthy,” says Hutchinson of Trumpian media attention.  It's hard to get any other message out.”

Hutchinson also speaks to the possibility of a significant third-party candidacy for president in 2024, such as from the bipartisan group, No Labels. 

“Right now you’ve got two major parties that are giving Americans what they don't want– “They don't want another Biden Trump rematch,” says  Hutchinson. “So  I think there is a potential for a third-party candidacy this year”.

Full episode are available on our website (purpeprinciple.com), on YouTube with video highlights, and on all major streaming apps. 

The Purple Principle is Fluent Knowledge Production. Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney. 

SHOW NOTES

Our Guest

Asa Hutchinson,  2024 POTUS Candidate, Gov. Arkansas (2015-2023), US House Rep. (R-AK) 2001-2003. Hutchinson’s Twitter.

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“I had been a conservative critic of mainstream media bias for many years,” says author and MSNBC columnist, Charlie Sykes, a “contrarian conservative” and our featured guest. “It  suddenly occurred to me that we had succeeded in not just critiquing the liberal bias, but in destroying  the credibility of  fact-based media altogether.”

Sykes is the author of the notable 2017 book, How the Right Lost Its Mind. Within our interview, as in the book, he is unsparing of himself and other traditional conservatives for paving the way for MAGA populism. Yet he emphasizes there is still some degree of factionalism within the GOP. 

A  sizable number of these more traditionally conservative Republicans were in attendance at the 2024 Principles First Summit in Washington DC, where we spoke with Sykes. Held the same weekend as the feverishly pro-Trump CPAC event a few miles away, this year’s Summit included appearances by  Adam Kinzinger, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Cassady Hutchinson.

There are more than 700 people,” Sykes observes.” And you look at the panels, the people who are speaking, they represent some of the most prominent conservatives, influential conservatives of just the past few decades.”

Join us for this conversation with contrarian conservative, Charlie Sykes, author of How the Right Lost Its Mind and MSNBC columnist.  

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production. Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney. 

SHOW NOTES

Our Guest

Charlie Sykes, MSNBC Columnist. Author of How The Right Lost Its Mind. Sykes’s book, and Twitter.

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