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Friday, October 19, 2012

A little honesty goes a long way: another reason to vote NO on Proposition 121

As an addendum to this previous post (California Dreaming: Why Arizonans should vote NO of Proposition 121), another important reason Arizona voters should want to retain partisan primaries is that they are often the only arena where voters get a true sense of a candidates political views.

When candidates must compete with others in their own party, they are forced to distinguish themselves over various issues.  They can not simply agree with one another and say that they would all treat important issues the same.  This is especially important for general election voters since candidates will normally attempt to moderate their positions to attract those in the other major party as well as independents.

If Proposition 121 is approved, voters will lose this important forum.  Candidates will simply run as generic conservatives or liberals or will attempt to appear as moderates to appeal to independents.  Voters will never get a deeper insight into candidates' positions  Their choices may be limited to enigmas who feel the need to conceal their views to win over as many general election voters as possible.

Voters should expect candidates to be honest about issues, and unfortunately, partisan primaries are sometimes the only place where voters of all political persuasions may get to see behind a candidate's mask.  This is another strong reason to vote NO on Proposition 121 and keep partisan primaries as part of Arizona's elections.

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