Al Bell, co-founder, Arizona Independent Voter’s Network
How It All Started
As a registered Independent Voter for fifteen years, I was as active as I could manage in the movement. Through a connection with independent voting.org, a long-time leader in voting rights for people like us, I met with Richard Sinclair in June. One of his emails changed everything. I had been focused on ideas for overhauling the election systems: removing arbitrary barriers to voters unaffiliated with a party.
He said, I believe that the vast majority of AZ Independents will vote wisely, IF they are provided honest information and are motivated to vote. Wait! They deserve respect? They have value? They don’t even belong to a party! And he trusts them? What? It popped into focus that the basic problem with the parties is their disrespect for and distrust of people who don’t agree with them. And it’s getting worse.
Leaping the Hurdles
Despite the obstacles, voters operating outside party confines are deciding important elections anyway. No organization. No control. By themselves. Despite disdain from the parties, the pundits, much of the news media, and even the candidates themselves, individual voters mostly shunned extremists who promote distrust and doubt, not the honest, demanding task of making improvements. To be clear, they increasingly have help from disenchanted voters from both parties as well.
What happens if the folks now working on proposals to remove those hurdles in Arizona fail again? I hope they succeed. I will help. Still, this will be the fourth attempt in a quarter century! What to do?
Our Answer
We are not waiting. Irrespective of whether—or when—the election system is changed, the Independent Voting community can benefit from a respectful communication network driven by accurate information, not party propaganda. What if, similar to a traditional cooperative, voters collaborate for a specific purpose: be better informed, consider their options, then vote? As responsible individuals.
Voters decides how to use intentionally accurate information and vote accordingly. The voters are in control. Their vote belongs exclusively to them; not the Network or anyone else. Will this behavior be universal? Of course not. Could it make a real difference? Only one way to find out, isn’t there?
The Pillars: Respect and Trust
Responsible members of the Independent Voting community—and that’s most of them—deserve respect and trust. This is so central to our endeavor that we refer to it as our Keystone Principle.
I Am More Than My Label—and So Are You
Read the title again. I am an Independent Voter who acknowledges the universal reality that, in this Nation, in this State, we may be independent of parties, but we are highly interdependent as a society. That is why we can pursue our own priorities; others are taking care of the store while we do that. We are interdependent and will always be so. That isn’t weakness; it’s reality and common sense. Respect it.
It is often stated that we are a nation of laws. That is true, but it is not and never has been accurate.
We are a nation of laws written, interpreted, applied , and sometimes abused, by men (and now, women, too).
We can unwrite bad law, write good ones—and replace the abusers. That part is up to us.
Alfredo Carlos Compana
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