Pennsylvania is One of Nine States conducting Closed Primary Elections. While that Format can Strengthen Party Affiliation, it also lets the Two Major Parties Dominate the Political Spectrum and Debate.
Independent or Unaffiliated Voters do Not have Representation during the Primary. For the Keystone State, that number approximates 740,000 Pennsylvanians.
State Sen. Joe Scarnati (R-25th District, Brockway), has introduced Legislation (SB 1234), to Change the Pennsylvania Election Code to a Semi-Closed Primary.
A Semi-Closed Primary means Unaffiliated Voters, Independents, can Vote in a State’s Two Major Party Primary. Unaffiliated Registered Voters do Not have to declare Formal Affiliation with a Political Party in Order to Vote in the Primary Election.
The Process is straightforward: On Election Day, a Poll Worker asks which Major Party Ballot the Registered Unaffiliated Voter is choosing. For that Primary Only, the Unaffiliated Voter is Identified as being a Member of the Party Associated with the chosen Ballot.
Voters are Not held to that Choice in subsequent Elections nor Identified in Voter Registration Rosters as such.
If Passed, Pennsylvania would join 16 other States conducting Semi-Closed Primary Elections: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia.
SB 1234 does Not Amend, however, that Registered Voters who List a Party affiliation on Primary Election Day can Switch at the Polling Place and ask for an Opposing Party’s Ballot, thus, SB 1234’s true Goal is to Grant Primary Election Voting Privileges to Unaffiliated Voters and Strengthen Voter Turnout.
In a true Open Primary, Voters would get One Ballot with All the Candidates and may Choose any Candidate, Cross-over Voting is Permitted.
In Pennsylvania, Voter Turnout for their last Primary was 18%.
Opponents say SB 1234’s Language does not go far enough, that it still favors only the Two Major Parties: Republican and Democrat.
Therefore, Voter Choice should not be Restricted to the Two-Party system; they want any Voter to be able to choose to vote Green, Libertarian, Constitution, Natural Law, or other Party, the option to do so would have to be included in any Amendment to P.L. 1330 No. 320.
Opponents further complain of Ballot Sway: Unaffiliated Voters can make a concerted effort in supporting a Primary Candidate they View who would be Weak in the General Election against a Candidate on an Opposing Ticket.
Predicting Accurately which Candidate will Draw Votes and who will Not early on in a Campaign requires more than Surveys of likely Voters. And if Voters vote by Candidate rather than Party, perhaps we can Return to Civility.
Given the Keystone State’s Role in our Nation’s History, one would think this State would Lead the effort to Support Independence at the Ballot box.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
1 comment:
The statement "A true open primary would give voters just one ballot" is not true, if one goes by standard reference works. "Open primary" has been defined for over 100 years as a system in which any voter is free to choose any party's primary ballot, but each party has its own ballot and its own nominees. The one-ballot at the primary is either a blanket primary or a top-two primary.
A California state superior court ruled in 2004 that a top-two system could not be described as an "open primary". Vandermost v Shelley. The state did not appeal and the top-two initiative, prop, 62, was not described on the ballot as an open primary.
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