Open Primaries are a Terrible Idea
The idea of switching to “open primaries” has been aggressively pushed by the Bernie wing of the Democratic party for over a year. This would change our primaries so that anyone can vote in them, regardless of party affiliation. Lately the DNC has been considering implementing the idea. This is a maddeningly self-destructive decision that must not pass.
Opening the primaries would create very real problems. We already saw “Operation Chaos” in 2008, where Rush Limbaugh urged Republicans to vote for Clinton in the open indiana primary just to drag out the process and hurt Obama. Obama ended up losing by 14,000 votes and Limbaugh crowed of victory on his show. The 2016 primaries were filled with talk of “strategic voting” on both sides to promote the weaker nominee of the opposing party. And this was in years where both parties had primaries. How many Republicans will vote in our primaries in 2020, when Trump is guaranteed the nomination?
Remember, these are the Democratic primaries we are talking about. Being restricted to Democratic voters is what makes them the Democratic primaries in the first place. It is up to our party, not the whole country, to decide who represents us. When your family’s going on vacation, you don’t let the whole neighborhood vote on where to go. It is not “disenfranchising” non-party voters to block them from Democratic primaries any more than it is “disenfranchising” Canadians to block them from voting in our elections.
The argument has also been made that closed primaries turn away progressive millenials who refuse to join the Democratic Party. This is working as intended. Nobody is forcing those millenials to stay independent. Joining the Democratic Party is easy, free, and involves no ideological test. If they want to make a statement by refusing to join a party, that is their choice, but that choice comes with consequences, including not being able to choose a party’s nominee. It’s like leaving your job because you want to “feel free” — that’s your choice, but don’t get mad when you don’t get your paycheck. We should not subsidize their self-serving immaturity just because they don’t like the consequences.
To be fair, there are some real problems with our primary voting process, leaving plenty of room for improvement. Confusing rules and too-early party registration deadlines often leave otherwise well-intentioned voters out in the cold, as we saw in the New York primaries. Pushing vote-by-mail, special programs for the elderly and infirm, and other accessibility options would increase participation. Furthermore, critical parts of the voting infrastructure are too often out of the party’s control, which can lead to chaos when in the hands of a hostile state government, as we saw in the Arizona primaries. Voting in our primaries should not be a complex challenge; the DNC should make it as easy as possible in every state and make the rules simple and clear to voters.
There are plenty of ways that our primary process could be improved to drive participation, promote a feeling of fairness, and improve diversity. Opening all the primaries is the wrong approach, one that has damaging consequences and goes against the very idea of a party primary. This idea has been heavily pushed by groups such as The Young Turks, who are attempting, in their own words, “a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party”, and by disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters, who have chosen to blame the closed primary system for Bernie’s loss. The Democratic Party must defend its integrity as a political party; we can not let hostile forces bully us into making self-destructive decisions. Say NO to open primaries!
