Who'd have thunk it?

Weekly Opinion Editorial

In the early days of radio and TV, Edgar Bergen (yes, Candace's dad) had a ventriloquist act which featured a dummy named Mortimer Snerd. Mortimer was pretty dumb, and most of the time when something was explained to him, he'd shake his head and say "Who'd have thunk it?"  You might also be familiar with another of Mortimer's inventions - the word "DUH!"

WHO'D HAVE THUNK IT?

by Steve Fair

    

     On Tuesday, voters across Oklahoma will go to the polls to vote in their respective Party primary elections.  The purpose of the primary is to select nominees for the general election in November.  Oklahoma has ‘closed’ primaries, which means a voter has to be registered in the Republican Party to vote in the Republican primary.  . 

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     Twenty one states have ‘open’ primaries, where a voter, no matter how they are registered, can vote in either Parties’ primary.  The supporters of the confusing system reason because Republicans don't just govern Republicans, Democrats don't just govern Democrats, that the individual voter should decide what Parties primary they wish to participate in.  I oppose open primaries for a couple of reasons:

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     First, I believe open primaries are unconstitutional.  Open primaries violate ‘freedom of association’ because it allows outsiders to select their candidates.  In Supreme Court case NAACP vs. Alabama, the court said, “It is beyond debate that freedom to engage in association for the advancement of beliefs and ideas is an inseparable aspect of the "liberty" assured by the due process clause of the first and fourteenth amendments, which embrace free of speech.”   In other words, the freedom of association is part of freedom of speech.
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     Second, beyond the constitutionality issue, OPEN primaries are illogical and can promote dishonesty.  Take for example what happened in Michigan, an open primary state, in the 2012 GOP presidential primary.  Rick Santorum campaigned to Democrats encouraging them to vote in the GOP primary instead of the Democrat primary.  You can’t blame Santorum because what he did was perfectly legal, but the open primary distorted the results by not reflecting the will of the Republicans in Michigan.  The Democrats voting for Santorum in the primary were not doing so because they liked him but because they thought the Senator would be the weaker candidate in the general against President Obama.  Voting is a sacred right and no voter should be playing games with their vote.

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     For decades, leaders in the Oklahoma Democrat Party used the ‘closed’ primary in our state as an effective tool to insure newly registered voters signed up Democrat.  “You will never be able to vote in the county elections because no Republicans run at the local level,” they would warn.   That was sometimes accurate, but most of the time, it was an exaggeration and a scare tactic used to steer citizens to the ‘D’ column.  

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     But times have changed.  In 2010, more Republicans were on the primary ballot across Oklahoma than Democrats.  In 2012, many county and legislative races will be decided in the Republican primary because no Democrat filed.  The only statewide race this year is for a six year term on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.  In that race, incumbent Bob Anthony faces Brooks Mitchell.  They are both Republicans and the election will be decided in the primary because no Democrat filed.

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     In the latest voter registration by party statistics released by the Oklahoma state election board, over 11% (229K) of the voters in Oklahoma are registered Independent.  Why would you register Independent in a ‘closed’ primary state?  Independents can’t participate in any election except a general election.  Recently, a registered Independent, who used to be Republican, told me, “I changed because I wanted to send a message to both parties.”  He was upset because this change prevented him from participating in primaries and he was lobbying me to persuade the OKGOP leadership to allow Independents to participate in our primaries. The only message he sent was that he was clueless about the process.

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   He correctly pointed out that in November of each odd-numbered year, recognized political parties declare whether or not they will permit Independents to vote in their primary elections during the following two calendar years.  You cannot obtain permission on an individual basis.   Neither the Oklahoma Democrat or Republican Party has allowed Independents to ever vote in their primary.  Why should they?  Remember freedom of association. 

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   I get that no political Party has all the answers, but basically dropping out of the process by registering Independent is a cop out.  Voters registered Independents should research the platforms and then align with the Party that best represents your values.  A closing note about voters registered Independents- as a whole- vote less than half as much as registered Rs or Ds. 

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     Right or wrong, political parties are part of our system for electing government officials.  I realize George Washington hated them and said they would be the ruin of our system of government, but they are the mechanism candidates use to get elected.  The system is not perfect, but no system will be perfect.    

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     By the way, if you want to vote in the local and statewide races and participate in the process, you are going to have to be registered Republican. Who'd have thunk it?