With the often contentious and gridlocked political discourse faced by Americans, many voters are choosing to abandon party ideology on the outer fringes and flee toward the seemingly safe center ground.

What they may not initially realize is that by giving up party affiliation they may also be giving up some rights as a voter or potential candidate.

It is the political parties that make the rules of politics and they generally don’t see it in their best interest to make it easy for unaffiliated independents to participate in the system, particularly since the number of those identifying “independent” with no party affiliation is growing rapidly.

Earlier this fall the Fountain Hills Town Council was faced with updating its election codes to comply with new state law regarding when town elections are held.

The town was forced to change its council election calendar from spring to late summer and fall. It also eliminated the town’s opportunity to conduct all-mail ballot elections.

The council had little choice in the matter and was making the change as a matter of housecleaning.

The action resulted in something of a partisan kerfuffle between former Councilwoman Ginny Dickey and State Senator John Kavanagh.

Dickey, a Democrat, said the legislative change was little more than a Republican attempt to make municipal elections more partisan (they are by law supposed to be non-partisan), as well as dilute the impact of independent voters.

She also challenged Kavanagh’s contention that the consolidation of the elections would increase voter turnout. A Republican, Kavanagh was prominent in the effort to get the elections consolidation through the state legislature.

Independents

One election (2014) would hardly be acceptable to indicate any trends, but the comparison between that first fall cycle and the last spring cycle (2012) in Fountain Hills shows the impact on voter turnout was negligible at best (see separate story).

Fountain Hills appears to be trending much the way the rest of the country is when it comes to the rise of independents.

According to the Maricopa County Recorder’s voter registration records, Fountain Hills has 16,246 registered voters.

Of those, 7,156 are Republican and 2,862 are Democrats.

That’s no surprise as the town has always been recognized as a Republican stronghold.

There is a handful, just over 100 in total, who identify with the Libertarian, Green and America First parties.

The Recorder’s office identifies an “other” category that would include those with no party affiliation or independent voters.

That number, 6,118 in Fountain Hills, well surpasses the Democrats and appears to be closing in on registered Republicans.

Should someone want to take advantage of such numbers and actually try to run as an independent candidate (there is no Independent party recognized in Arizona), they would face some significant hurdles in the process.

Those challenges begin with the collection of signatures to get their name on the ballot.

Any recognized political party requires candidates to collect signatures equal to 1 percent of those registered with the party. Independents are required to collect 3 percent of those identifying as independent.

Dickey also suggests that the balloting process suppresses independent voters. To vote in a primary, those without party affiliation must take an extra step and ask for a ballot from one of the major parties to make their choice.

She points out this may impact town elections, which are supposed to be non-partisan, when they appear on a consolidated primary ballot.

Generally, council candidates have received enough votes in the primary to preclude the need for them to appear on the General Election ballot, when independent voters are more likely to cast ballots.

Issues only?

There is a Fountain Hills resident who would qualify as a prominent independent voter. Paul Ryan worked hard with legislators in both parties to make changes to signature gathering processes for petitions for candidates as well as initiative and referendums.

Those changes resulted in voters having a better idea who is out there collecting signatures.

“I didn’t like the idea of people hiring felons to collect petition signatures,” Ryan said.

Ryan is not just a non-partisan when it comes to politics, he has also proven to be a strong bi-partisan advocate. He worked with politicians of all ideological stripes in advocating the new signature gathering rules, and he got along with all of them.

“I’m a big fan of anyone who works at public service,” Ryan said. “They give an extraordinary amount of their time.”

Ryan identifies as an independent because he does not care about party labels when making his political decisions.

“I align more with issues than I do with candidates,” Ryan said. “I want to know about where the person stands on the issues.”

For his part Ryan said he does not mind the primary process that requires him to request a ballot.

“They send you a post card asking you what ballot you want, you just mark it and send it back,” Ryan said. “I like the option of deciding which ballot I want to vote for.”

Who are

independents?

A survey by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University addressed that issue earlier this year.

The report states that “some switched over to being an independent after growing weary of the status quo. In fact, the rise in the number of voters registered as independents can be viewed as a rising distaste with the current two political parties in power.”

Some survey respondents indicated they would not have changed to independent if the existing parties were less partisan and less committed to ideology and more committed to governing.

This lack of ideological commitment may in fact be a factor that leads to a lack of power on the part of independents.

“Independents in Arizona do not come together, and in fact may not be able to come together with so many divergent views to form a unified block,” the Morrison report states.

“As a result they have less influence than the other parties in impacting election results.”

One independent told the survey, “We’re not a party. We’re a mindset.”

Patrick McWhortor, Arizona campaign director for Open Primaries, cites the Morrison study in a guest opinion that appeared in the Arizona Capitol Times recently.

“Independents are choosing not to belong to a political party and they are not treated equally under the law,” McWhortor stated.

“This should be no surprise to any Arizonan accustomed to gridlock in Congress, partisan squabbles over inconsequential issues and a widening gap between what the voters want and what our elected representatives deliver.

“Today’s voter sees a broken system that fails to deliver on the promise of democracy. And the growing number of independents is an indication that voters see political parties as part of the problem.”

Open Primaries is attempting to get a measure on the November 2016 ballot creating an open primary system in Arizona. A similar measure failed in 2012.