On May 4, Jason Olson of Independent Voice and Eric Bauman, vice-chair of the California Democratic Party and chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, debated for 15 minutes on KCRW Radio, the public radio station in Los Angeles. They were on the show “Which Way, L.A.?”
If your computer has software for listening to archived radio, use this link if you wish to listen. The Proposition 14 portions starts after 30 minutes of other topics, mostly on airline mergers.
Jason Olson’s assertion that independent voters in California must ask for a Democratic or Republican ballot is misleading, because it implies that if an independent voter does nothing, he or she will never receive a Democratic or Republican ballot. Actually, when an independent voter walks into a polling place on primary election day, a polling place official hands that voter a small card, which says, “When you registered to vote, you did not select a qualified political party. You will receive a ballot with nonpartisan contests and measures. You may also request the non-party member version of either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party ballot. Please request one of these ballots from the pollworker.” At this point the voter is asked to choose between three alternatives, a non-partisan-Democratic ballot, a non-partisan Republican ballot, or a ballot that only has non-partisan items.
Ever since 2001, both the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party, have let independent voters vote in their primaries for Congress and state office. The Democratic Party also lets independents vote in its presidential primary, but the Republican Party does not.