(CN) — The discord and unseemliness of this year's presidential campaigns has renewed interest in decentralizing the power of political parties in government.
Already this year, a member of Congress has renewed his call for nonpartisan primaries for all congressional races.
There is also a proposal in Michigan to move to nonpartisan elections and a unicameral legislature, and a proposed ballot initiative in South Dakota that will ask voters in November to approve a constitutional amendment that would transform its state legislature into a nonpartisan body.
Meanwhile in Nebraska, where the state has featured a unicameral, nonpartisan legislature since 1937, a group of 13 state senators publicized a letter they authored that chastised Gov. Pete Ricketts for comments he made about "platform Republicans" at the state party convention that they believe were meant to intimidate G.O.P. members who don't toe the party line.
In a political era known for dysfunction and polarization, it should come as no surprise that numerous groups are looking for ways to move beyond the partisan disputes that have confounded legislators from Washington D.C. to state houses around the country.
In an election-year editorial published in September 2014, Rep. John Delaney, a Democrat from Maryland, explained why he had introduced the Open Our Democracy Act earlier that summer.
"We can't let 535 people continue to limit the progress of a nation of more than 300 million people," Delaney wrote in the Washington Post, referring to his colleagues in the Capitol. "Congressional dysfunction is the logical result of closed primaries, too many gerrymandered one-party seats and low-turnout elections. [...] We select candidates using a partisan primary filter, then act surprised when the huge portion of the electorate that isn't ideological is unhappy with its general-election options."
Reforms suggested by Delaney include mandating open primaries for House elections, making Election Day a federal holiday, and initiating redistricting reform, all of which would give independent and moderate voters a greater voice in picking representatives and send so-called "bridge-builders" to serve in Washington.
This approach is shared by groups like Open Primaries Inc., a New York non-profit working to enact open and nonpartisan primary systems.
"More Americans now identify as independent than with either of the two major political parties. Yet most states prohibit independents from voting in primaries. They also disallow major party voters who live in gerrymandered districts controlled by the other party without a meaningful vote. As a result, less than 5% of voters today are deciding who represents 100% of their district or state — leaving only the most hardened partisans in control of much of the makeup of our legislative bodies," Jeremy Gruber, Senior Vice President of Open Primaries told Courthouse News.
While the Open Our Democracy Act remains in committee limbo, on the state level there has been more movement.
In South Dakota the proposed constitutional amendment would adopt a nonpartisan legislative system in the state. Open Primaries and former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rick Weiland have led the effort to get the amendment on the ballot.