As an election judge in the March primary election and several primary elections in past years, I have responded many times to the complaint brought forth by Stuart Pearson (“Primary problem,” Voice, April 22). We had people all day telling us they wish they didn’t have to declare their party affiliation in order to vote.
What we explained many times on Election Day is that nobody is being asked to declare their party affiliation. I was careful all day to ask voters “Would you like a Democratic or Republican ballot?” This was not asking which party they support but in which party’s primary they chose to vote on that day. Period.
People are free to vote in either party’s primary, and they may change their choice each time we have a primary election. In the November election they will choose the candidates of one party over another, and at that time nobody in their polling place will ask them how they voted.
In a primary, however, since each voter may only vote one party’s election, they must make a choice. If we could vote in both parties, anyone with half a brain would vote for the candidates they supported in their own party, then vote for the weakest candidates to oppose them from the other party. Whichever party could get the biggest turnout for a primary could virtually guarantee their candidates’ success in the fall election. This would be a truly objectionable situation and should make the logic of our present system obvious.
