Opinion: Jackie Salit - October 3, 2019
Democrats will pay dearly for excluding independents from presidential primaries. They need independents to win in Arizona and nationally.
The Arizona Democratic Party voted down a resolution on Sept. 21 to open the party’s presidential primaries in March to the state’s 1.3 million independent voters.
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Dennis Welch - September 25, 2019
TEMPE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes left open the possibility that he might sue the state to let independent voters participate in Arizona's Presidential Preference Election.
"I think all options are on the table right, now," Fontes said Tuesday during a stop at ASU's Tempe Campus to register new voters.
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Shawn Griffiths - September 24, 2019
The Arizona Democratic Party has given the state’s 1.3 million independent voters a hard snub ahead of the 2020 election. Party officials rejected a proposal Saturday to open its presidential preference election, despite urging from younger party activists and nonpartisan reformers to support the idea.
Instead, both major political parties continue to send voters a clear message: “Pick a party” or don’t vote.
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Opinion: Laurie Roberts - September 22, 2019
Arizona Democrats claim to be the party of inclusion. Just not when it comes to opening their presidential primary to those all-important independent voters. The Arizona Democratic Party managed to once again show it hasn’t a clue how to win in 2020.
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Julia Shumway - September 21, 2019
Arizona Democrats today rejected a proposal from Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes to open the party’s presidential preference election to independent voters.
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Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Arizona Republic | azcentral.com - September 21, 2019
Arizona Democrats are rallying ahead of 2020, hoping to turn the red-leaning state blue to elect a Democratic president for the first time since Bill Clinton’s win here in 1996 and seize a second U.S. Senate seat.
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Jonathan J. Cooper, Associated Press - September 21, 2019
PHOENIX (AP) — A group of independents and some Democrats are making a longshot push to convince the Arizona Democratic Party to open its presidential primary to voters who decline to join a political party.
The effort is forcing Democratic activists to weigh their inclusive values against fears of conservative meddling.
Garrett Archer - September 20, 2019
PHOENIX — Maricopa county recorder Adrian Fontes will be bringing reams of papers with him to the State Democratic meeting tomorrow.
Fontes will ask the state committee to allow him to introduce an emergency resolution that will open Arizona’s presidential preference election to the state’s almost 1.3 million independents, or “party not declared” registrants. Since its creation in 1996, the presidential preference election has been a “closed” election, which means that voters that wish to participate must be registered in one of the state’s recognized political parties.
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Opinion: Abe Kwok, Arizona Republic - September 20, 2019
Independents have valid arguments to vote in Arizona presidential primaries. But they must rely on a political party to make it happen.
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Ted Simons sits down with Adrian Fontes, Democrat and Maricopa County Recorder, and Cathy Stewart, Vice President of National Development to discuss the effort to get Democrats to include independents in the party's Presidential Preference Election.
View the segment which aired September 19, 2019, HERE.