Open Primaries: Just Say No
In a few days Pennsylvania voters will go to the polls and vote in the Primary election. The commonwealth is what is known as a “closed” primary state. Voters must register Republican to vote in the Republican primary and Democrat to vote in the Democrat primary. Those who register as independent, unaffiliated, or in minor parties cannot vote in the primaries of the two major political parties.
Every year at this time a clamor arises for so-called “open” primaries, essentially to allow registered independents to vote in the primary of whatever party they may choose.
It is true that “independent” is the most rapidly growing category of voters in Penn’s woods. But the argument that independent voters are somehow being discriminated against because they cannot vote in party primaries is specious. By registering independent a voter is stating they do not wish to belong to one of the two major parties. That is a conscious and valid choice – but it is a choice.
A political party primary is just that: the mechanism by which members of that party select their nominees who will compete in the General election. It is not the first round of General election voting.
As a registered Republican, and one who has been active in the Republican party my entire adult life, I do not want Democrats or anyone not a member of the Republican Party deciding our standard bearer. Open primaries would in fact deprive us of the ability to select candidates who adhere to the principles and policies for which our party stands.
In some jurisdictions party affiliation is so lopsided that the winner of the primary is essentially elected. This is true mostly in larger cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and in other urban areas around the state with heavily Democrat registrations.
Open primary advocates say independents thus have little to no voice in the process because the primary is essentially the election. But the same is true for Republicans in these areas, who have no say in the Democrat primaries and who face long odds in November. But you do not hear Republicans complaining.
Now it is true that a growing number of state senatorial and legislative districts are uncompetitive. However, the cause of this is not Pennsylvania’s closed primary system, but an excessively gerrymandered set of district maps purposefully designed to be non-competitive to give state Democrats an electoral advantage.
Open primaries also open the door to electoral chicanery. Such a system would allow members of an opposition party to cross over and vote in large numbers in an opposing party’s competitive primary to ensure the nomination of the weakest General election candidate.
For example, a competitive Democrat primary is currently underway for a U.S. House seat in the Lehigh valley. Open primaries would allow Republicans to cross over and vote for the perceived weakest Democrat to face their incumbent in November.
Pennsylvania voters got a taste of this in 2022 when then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro was unopposed for the Democrat gubernatorial nomination while Republicans were engaged in a nine-candidate brawl. Supporters of Shapiro believed state Senator Doug Mastriano to be the weakest potential General election candidate and engaged in efforts to push Republican voters his way. Open primaries would make such hijinks easier and more frequent.
The current closed primary system in one way gives independent voters more political power. In most cases, certainly in statewide elections, neither Republicans nor Democrats can win without appealing to and winning the support of independent voters. Independent voters essentially now hold the balance of power in their hands.
Finally, there is the question of election integrity. There remains a significant segment of the electorate that lacks confidence in our electoral system. The existence of no excuse mail in voting is viewed as an area of potential fraud. Unsecured ballot drop boxes and other mechanisms employed during the Covid era continue to be a point of concern.
Add into the mix the administrative complexity of allowing voters to show up at the polls on election day and then declare in what primary they want to vote adds just another security weak point.
The bottom line: just as registered Republicans make a choice to be a Republican; registered Democrats make a choice to be a Democrat, registered independents make a choice to be independent. That is a choice that must be respected. But it is a choice, not discrimination by the system.
(Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly Lincoln Radio Journal and American Radio Journal. His e-mail address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org.)
Permission to reprint is granted if author and affiliation are cited.
