Summary: Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Michael Fisher, Claire Fox, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We’ll talk about the roll-out of semi-open primaries. Maine will be running semi-open primaries for the first time in 2024. We’ll explain to voters what to expect and what important deadlines and new procedures may pertain. And we’ll talk about how semi-open primaries might affect voter behavior and election outcomes. Guest/s: Shenna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State www.maine.gov/sos/about/bio.html Jill Goldthwait, Hancock County journalist and political columnist, former Maine state senator (unenrolled) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Goldthwait Laurel Harbridge-Yong, Professor of Political Science; Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research; Northwestern University www.ipr.northwestern.edu/who-we-are/faculty-experts/harbridge.html To learn more about this topic: 1. LWV Of Tennessee | League of Women Voters LWVTN sues over Bona Fide Primary Voting Law, November, 2023 www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/lwvtn-tennessee-voters-file-federal-lawsuit-challenging-state-bona-fide 2. Understanding the Partisan Divide: How Demographics and Policy Views Shape Party Coalitions | New America, February, 2023 www.newamerica.org/political-reform/reports/understanding-the-partisan-divide/ 3. The Success Story Behind Maine’s Adoption of Semi-Open Primaries | Independent Voter News, August, 2022 ivn.us/posts/the-success-story-behind-maines-adoption-of-semi-open-primaries 4. State Primary Election Systems | National Council of State Legislators, June, 2021 documents.ncsl.org/wwwncsl/Elections/Primary-Types-Table_2021.pdf 5. Why Do Legislators Reject ‘Half-Loaf’ Compromises? | Northwestern Institute for Policy Research, April, 2020 www.ipr.northwestern.edu/news/2020/harbridge-yong-half-loaf-compromises.html 6. Rejecting Compromise: Legislators’ Fear of Primary Voters. Anderson, S., D. Butler, and Harbridge-Yong, Cambridge University Press, 2020 www.cambridge.org/core/books/rejecting-compromise/01F2DA900C72ACF02E1B3ECF4EED43D3 7. LWVME Study Guide on Primaries, 2017-2018 www.lwvme.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Primary_Study_Guide.pdf 8. 9 media myths about independent voters, debunked | Vox, January 2016 www.vox.com/2016/1/22/10814522/independents-voters-facts-myths 9. How Do You Like Me Now? The desirability of Political Independence, Klar S, Krupnikov Y., Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction, Cambridge University Press, 2016. www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/independent-politics/how-do-you-like-me-now-the-desirability-of-political-independence/312BD7BFCC87D43FFACADAA264E261FB About the host: Ann currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009. In her work for the League, Ann has worked for greater public understanding of public policy issues and for the League’s priority issues in Clean Elections & Campaign Finance Reform, Voting Rights, Ethics in Government, Ranked Choice Voting, and Repeal of Term Limits. Representing LWVME at Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, she served that coalition as co-president from 2006 to 2011. She remains on the board of MCCE and serves as Treasurer. She is active in the LWV-Downeast and hosts their monthly radio show, The Democracy Forum, on WERU FM Community Radio -which started out in 2004 as an recurring special, and became a regular monthly program in 2012. She was the 2013 recipient of the Baldwin Award from the ACLU of Maine for her work on voting rights and...
