Letter: Open primaries are good for non-partisan voters

Thankfully, Jim Hartman in his commentary of Aug. 24 acknowledged the importance of changing to open primaries in Nevada, allowing the 33% of Nevadan voters registered as non-partisan to have a voice in the primaries.

With open primaries, a voter doesn’t have to vote a party ticket and can vote for candidates from any party. Generally, this allows more moderate candidates to proceed to the general election, where the majority of Americans, who happen not to be on the political fringes, actually vote.

Unfortunately, Hartman doesn’t recognize the importance of Nevada’s Question 3, which includes Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in the general election. As written, the top five candidates from the primary proceed to the general election. Where voters can rank candidates in the order of their preference. This avoids electing a candidate who garners the most initial votes among a field of candidates, but who is not favored by the majority of voters. It avoids the spoiler candidates that might split the majority of voters, allowing a less favored candidate to win with less than 50-plus percent of the votes.

I say we need to wrestle back our democracy from the two-party duopoly that can’t work together and incites divisiveness. If we want a different result, we need to change how we elect our representatives. We need leadership that represents the majority of moderate centralists. If you want to know more about reclaiming a representative republic, check out the nonpartisan website: The Institute for Political Innovation (political-innovation.org).

Colleen Lyons

Carson City