In 1960, three political scientists and a social psychologist from the University of Michigan penned a 573-page treatise called The American Voter, which continues to impact the political thinking of our day.¹ One of the book’s claims was that most voters cast their votes based on their party identification, and that independents (at that time, only 23 percent of the voting population) are the least attentive to the political process. Partisans have long since referred back to this seminal work, and political scientists and pollsters have insisted ever since that independents aren’t really independent—they’re “leaners.”

Fast forward to 2022, where a new, comprehensive study of contemporary American politics has been published, The Independent Voter. As Arnold Schwarzenegger says in his review on the back cover, “The Independent Voter does a fantastic job chronicling the rise, and the power, of the fastest-growing segment of the electorate in the United States.” And a fascinating and instructive read it is. But just as interesting is who the authors are, and why they came together to write this book.

Thom Reilly is a Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University, with a distinguished background in public service, including most recently as Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education; Jacqueline Salit is President of Independent Voting, and one of the country’s foremost leaders of the independent voter movement who played a vital role in the presidential campaigns of Lenora Fulani and Ross Perot, and the mayoral campaigns of Michael Bloomberg; and Omar Ali, Dean of Lloyd International Honors College and Professor of African American political history at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, whose independent political journey included working as a field organizer on Fulani’s 1992 independent presidential campaign.

Most recently, Reilly and Salit became co-directors of the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy at ASU, a new opportunity for exploring who the independent voter really is.

Caroline Donnola (l) with Cathy Stewart, Jackie Salit, Omar Ali, and in second row Leah Clifford, Dr. Jessie Fields and Thom Reilly.

These three authors might seem an unlikely partnership, but, it turns out, unlikely partnerships have been key to the history of our movement.
Full disclosure here. I worked behind the scenes on The Independent Voter between August, 2021 and May, 2022. My role included overseeing the benchmarks the authors had to meet to hit all the deadlines; conducting extensive research; creating thousands of endnotes; and copy editing. I got to live and breathe the book in its many iterations. I was immersed in FEC records, surveys and polls, and prior studies. Working closely with my intrepid colleague, David Belmont, we parsed statistics and extrapolated findings from data. I fretted over citations, commas, and conflicting styles from chapter to chapter. Some of the material was new to me and eye-opening; much of it was familiar due to my many years as a field organizer working in the trenches.

Since the book came out, I’ve had the chance to read it from a fresh perspective. One thing that strikes me most is how comprehensive a work it is. The Independent Voter covers the early history of the movement, which historian Omar Ali traces back to the 1840’s; documents study after study of independent voters; highlights the many misrepresentations and misconceptions that have been force-fed to us for generations; and details the nitty-gritty on the many lawsuits, legal challenges, and existing barriers to independent political activity. The book is studious and fact-based (I was one of the fact-checkers!). It also has heart and soul, with a timely foreword by Democrat-turned-independent Andrew Yang, who recently helped instigate the formation of the Forward Party, as well as a stirring afterward and poem by African American doctor and longtime independent activist Jessie Fields.

There are too many highlights from the book to list here, but one of my favorites is the chapter “Independents Speak: ‘We’re not a Party. We’re a Mindset,’” which contains statements by and photos of 23 diverse independents and their allies from around the country. In this chapter you can see, hear, taste, smell and touch the realness (we’re not leaners!) as well as the seriousness of a small but significant sample of diverse individuals who have chosen this path. As the book’s authors put it:

… one hears repeatedly their call for being treated with respect and recognized as independents—neither closet Democrats nor Republicans—and deeply concerned about moving the country forward in inclusive and democratic ways. ²

To paraphrase the famous editorial written in 1897, “Yes, Virginia, there are independent voters!”³

I’m grateful to have been part of producing this important book, and the long journey—with all its twists and turns down the independent road—and I’m ready and eager to participate in the creation of our next chapter.

Caroline Donnola, formerly the Executive Assistant to Jackie Salit, recently retired and is currently a freelance writer and editor.

¹ Campbell, A., Converse, P.E., Miller, W.E., and Stokes, D.E. (1960) The American Voter (unabridged edition). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

² Reilly, Thom, Salit, Jacqueline S., Ali, Omar H. (2023) The Independent Voter. New York: Routledge. Page 91.

³ Church, Francis Pharcellus, “Is There a Santa Claus?,” The Sun, September 21, 1897.

Join Cathy Stewart for a Virtual Conversation with

Thom Reilly, Jackie Salit and Omar Ali

The Authors of The Independent Voter

December 7th at 3 pm ET.

REGISTER HERE!

Readers Forum – Damien Hughes on the Independent Voter

December 2, 2022

cathylstewart

1 Comment

Converting Potential Energy Into Kinetic Energy

There is clearly a hunger for change in our country’s politics. Consider the state of American politics for the past quarter of a century. Our last six presidents have been George HW Bush (R), Bill Clinton (D), George W Bush (R), Barack Obama (D), Donald Trump (R), and Joe Biden (D). Like the pendulum on a grandfather clock, the balance of power in the nation’s highest position keeps swinging back and forth between R and D. Why? I personally believe it’s because our country is desperately seeking some sense of equilibrium, and because all it has to choose from are extremes from the left and right, it tries to create that balance as best as it can by handing the reins over to the opposite party again and again and again. The million-dollar question is this, then. How do we, as independents, give the nation what it craves in a system that’s clearly rigged in favor of a two-party system?

First, we need to provide independent voices a unified place to come together, to be heard, to share their diverse viewpoints, and to feel a sense of belonging and hope for the future. An independent who has no allies quickly becomes a non-voter, and non-voters won’t help independents get a seat at the table in American politics.

Second, we need to begin to change the rules to create a level playing field. We need to fight for reforms such as Final Five voting. We need alternative voting systems that encourage people to vote their conscience without fear of the spoiler effect. Examples include STAR voting, approval voting, and so on. (I’ve avoided mentioning RCV only because I personally oppose it as a viable alternative, but that’s a topic for another discussion.) We need to eliminate big money from politics as much as possible (perhaps through democracy dollars?) so money doesn’t have the death grip it currently has on every aspect of our politics from campaigns to influencing how people vote. We need term limits. Part of our current problem is that our Founding Fathers intended for people to hold office as a short-term act of public service (see George Washington and his reasons for not seeking a third term) but somewhere along the way, politics became a profession. Career politicians are often ambitious, uncompromising, and willing to put their need to maintain power over the needs of the country they’re allegedly serving. There are dozens of other changes in the rules needed, but an exhaustive list would be enough to fill up a book, so I’ll stop here.

Third (and most importantly), we need a tangible plan with measurable metrics. It’s one thing for us as independents to say we’re beginning to see positive change. It’s another thing entirely for us to convert this unique opportunity into something that has a real impact on people’s everyday lives.

In science, there’s the idea of potential energy and the idea of kinetic energy. Potential energy is energy that has the potential to do work but isn’t actively releasing its stored energy or applying force to other objects. An object’s potential energy is based on its position. When potential energy is released, it’s called kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. If an apple is sitting on the floor, it has little potential energy. If I take the apple to the top of a building and hold it off the edge, it has a lot of potential energy. But either way, it has no kinetic energy until its potential energy is released.

Right now independents are like an apple that’s gone from being on the floor to being held over the edge of a building. I believe our next step as independents is to devise a plan to release our potential. Once that happens, like the breaking of a dam, a wave of change will ensue that cannot be stopped. But if we don’t act quickly enough, a new generation of independents will turn into a generation of cynical, apathetic non-voters who have been jaded into believing that change is simply not possible. And if we as independents collectively squander this wonderful opportunity we’ve been afforded, then perhaps the cynics are right. The time to act is now.

In The Independent Voter, Chapter 7 — “Independents Speak: We’re Not a Party, We’re a Mindset” Damien says:

“As independents, we are not undecided; we’re unimpressed. Unimpressed with having to settle for the lesser of two evils, the scare choice in the marketplace of ideas, unimpressed with a system that promotes us versus them, and rewards the demonization of anyone who has a different point of view. Unimpressed with leaders who spew hatred into our discourse and kneel at the altar of partisanship at the expense of those whom they pledge to serve. Unimpressed with a lack of transparency, a lack of accountability, and a lack of solutions year after year after year. We want politicians who are elected for their problem-solving abilities, not their party alliances. We want leaders who are open-minded enough to listen to all sides of an issue. We want those who can bridge the divide between points of view and find real, lasting solutions. We are independents, and we are here to stay.”

Damien Hughes is a software developer, a member of the Virginia Independent Voter Association, and a volunteer Slack community moderator for the cross-partisan, anti-corruption group RepresentUs.