Homeless in Arizona

Most people don't know it but the Presidential Primary elections in Arizona and most states are are a waste of tax dollars because they don't count.

In Arizona, irregardless of who wins of the Presidential primary elections the political parties, i.e. Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians tell the Arizona Secretary of State which candidate they want to on the Arizona primary Presidential election ballot.

A perfect example of this is the Arizona 2000 Libertarian Presidential Primary election. In that year the Arizona Libertarian Party was having a feud with the National Libertarian Party.

Harry Browne won the Libertarian Primary election in Arizona, but because of the feud the Arizona Libertarian party told the Arizona Secretary of State to place L. Neil Smith as our candidate on the ballot.

In that year Harry Browne was the Libertarian Presidential candidate in all the states, except for Arizona in which had L. Neil Smith as our Libertarian candidate.

When I was involved with the Libertarian Party we told the state of Arizona that we didn't want them to waste our tax dollars having Presidential primary elections that didn't count.

And because of that they stopped wasting our tax dollars having phoney baloney Libertarian Presidential primary elections which don't count.

The Republicans and Democrats should do the same.

Now this is only true about Presidential PRIMARY elections. All the other primary elections for Federal and state offices do count.

The Libertarian Party's position on this is that because primary elections only benefit the political parties, that each political party should pay the cost of holding their primary elections.

If other parties did the right thing like the Libertarian Party did, Independent's wouldn't be bitching about about not being able to vote in Presidential Primary elections.

I dropped out of the Arizona Libertarian Party because of that feud. A guy named Peter Schmerl from Tucson created the Arizona Libertarian Party Incorporated or ALP Inc as we called it and used it to take over the original ALP by suing us.

My group the ALP won the initial lawsuits, but we lost in the appeals courts and we didn't have the financial resources to appeal it to the Supreme Court.

While I still am registered to vote as a Libertarian, I never have supported ALP Inc and won't have anything to do with the ALP Inc.

Source

How independents can vote in Arizona's presidential contest

Mary Jo Pitzl, The Republic | azcentral.com 2:52 p.m. MST February 8, 2016

To vote in Arizona's March 22 presidential preference election, voters must register with a party

Independents can register with one of the three parties by Feb. 22 to vote in the contest Every four years, the Arizona election system throws voters a curve. After preaching independents can vote in party primaries, it then tells independents they can't vote in the state's presidential preference election.

That means come March 22, elections officials are bracing for a wave of angry would-be voters who will be turned away if they try and vote in the Democratic, Republican or Green elections.

It doesn't have to be that way: Independents can re-register with one of the three parties, as long as they do it by Feb. 22.

There's a different set of rules for voting in state primaries and the quadrennial preference election, said Gina Roberts, voter-education manager for the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. While independents can vote in party primaries for Legislature, governor and Congress, state law prohibits them from participating in the preference election.

But there's a workaround: Re-register with one of the parties.

"It gives the independent voter a chance to participate," Roberts said.

The commission is trying to spread the word about how to vote in a presidential contest that has riveted the nation. Clean Elections has created a media campaign ranging from a series of short videos to promotions on its YouTube channel to radio ads airing during drive time.

Its message echoes those coming from the Secretary of State's Office and county elections officials as the preference election nears: Re-registration is simple. Voters can go online at http://servicearizona.com and switch their party registration.

Likewise, people who want to register to vote in the March 22 election should follow the same procedure, as long as they do it by the Feb. 22 deadline.

Independents uncomfortable with wearing a party label can switch back to their independent status after the March 22 election, Roberts said.

Elections officials are hoping to minimize the frustration Karen Osborne witnessed four years ago, when 50,000 provisional ballots in Maricopa County were not counted because the voter was not registered with either the Green nor the Republican parties, which held preference elections that year. There was no Democratic preference election in 2012 because President Obama was running unopposed for re-election.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Michele Reagan is pushing a plan to dump the preference election, citing its $10 million cost to taxpayers.

“This election really should be turned back to parties," Reagan told a legislative panel this month. With 37 percent of Arizona voters registered as independents and unqualified to vote unless they re-register, Reagan said it makes little sense to have taxpayers foot the bill.

Parties could organize their own methods for picking a presidential candidate, Reagan said, ranging from a traditional primary election to caucuses to their own preference election.

A majority of the House Appropriations Committee agreed, approving House Bill 2567 on an 8-6 vote, and continuing its path through the Legislature.

The state Republican Party isn't taking a position on the bill, said party spokesman Tim Sifert.

Democrats, however, say there's good reason to keep the preference election, arguing it takes advantage of the heightened voter interest that comes with presidential elections. Barb Lubin, a spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party, said it's a boost for sagging voter turnout.

“We see the presidential preference election is a way to turn these trends around,” Lubin said.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter @maryjpitzl.