The Primary Threat to Our Democratic Process

image
Author: Harry Kresky
Published: 04 Oct, 2022
Updated: 06 Oct, 2022
4 min read

Editor's Note: This op-ed, written by Jeremy Gruber and Harry Kresky, originally published on The Fulcrum and has been shared on IVN with permission from the publisher.

 

Few people would characterize the conservative South as enlightened when it comes to electoral politics. But the truth is that in some respects it is more advanced than many Democratic strongholds. While states like Oregon and New York continue to employ closed party primary elections, even as the electorate becomes more independent and more demanding of real choices at the polls, states from Alabama to Missouri have dispensed with party registration and employed open primaries for years.

These states may lean Republican at the ballot box, as key Northern states lean Democratic, but they have carved out the space for voters to define themselves and their voting choices. These systems are now under attack all across the South and, if successfully repealed, could spell a descent into authoritarian rule that we’ve barely begun to grasp.

MAGA Republicans across the country have been working to restructure the rules of state elections to give themselves maximum control of their party’s agenda and electoral fortunes. That’s widely understood. What has been quietly building with scant attention is how the rules of primary elections are quickly becoming a centerpiece of that effort.

Three state Republican parties – in Alabama, Tennessee and Missouri – have already passed resolutions requiring party registration and closed primaries. Leaders in 10 states have declared publicly their intent to introduce legislation in the 2023 sessions to do the same. Every one of these states has a Republican supermajority that will guarantee, absent outside pressure, their passage.

What would that look like?

Right now, voters in these states register to vote without a party affiliation. These proposals would require that voters re-register and declare, for the first time ever, a party affiliation with the state. It would mean that thousands of voters will likely fall through the cracks and never get back on the voter rolls again. It would deny, for the first time ever, anyone who chooses to register independently the right to cast a meaningful vote. It would also mean that voters who identify as Democratic-leaning, including sizable communities of color, would be forced to make a choice. Register as a Democrat and be assured that, outside some local races, your vote doesn’t matter or register Republican to impact who governs.

That’s because the primaries in these states are quite literally the only elections that matter. In the 2020 general election in Arkansas, 56 percent of state legislative races were uncontested. Uncontested! Only 5 percent of races were considered competitive. In Alabama, 49 percent of races were uncontested and not one race in the entire state was competitive. This is the norm. The winner of the Republican primary in these states almost always wins the general election.

IVP Donate

If these states move to partisan voter registration and closed primaries, a small cabal of the most partisan Republican voters will have full control over their state’s agenda. This is not insignificant. Up to 20 percent of the states in our country are at risk of having their primaries closed. This is the context in which President Biden is able to rail against the danger of “MAGA Republicans'' undermining our democracy. Of course, what it really represents is the natural evolution of a binary system that thrives when the parties are competitive and risks authoritarianism when one party moves to completely dominate a state’s political landscape.

This is not a conservative-versus-liberal issue. Indeed, it is unfortunate that Democratic Party leaders appear to be abandoning Southern voters and allowing this to happen, hoping perhaps that the further right the Republican Party moves, the better the Democrats fare nationally. Is it too much to expect them to join the battle to keep these primaries open? Are they afraid that such an effort might call into question their commitment to keeping primaries closed in deep blue states?

We have a real opportunity to build a left/right coalition of voters across the South who stand for the simple principle that our democracy only works when every vote is counted equally. Voters, of all political stripes, have much to lose from the imposition of a system of voting that forces them to pick sides and stay in their lanes.

Gruber is the senior vice president of Open Primaries. Kresky is counsel to Independentvoting.org. They, along with Michael Hardy, are the authors of “Let All Voters Vote: Independents and the Expansion of Voting Rights in the United States.”

In this article

Related articles

Crowd in Time Square.
NYC Exit Survey: 96% of Voters Understood Their Ranked Choice Ballots
An exit poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the nonprofit better elections group FairVote finds that ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to be supported by a vast majority of voters who find it simple, fair, and easy to use. The findings come in the wake of the city’s third use of RCV in its June 2025 primary elections....
01 Jul, 2025
-
6 min read
A man filling out his election ballot.
Oregon Activist Sues over Closed Primaries: 'I Shouldn't Have to Join a Party to Have a Voice'
A new lawsuit filed in Oregon challenges the constitutionality of the state’s closed primary system, which denies the state’s largest registered voting bloc – independent voters – access to taxpayer-funded primary elections. The suit alleges Oregon is denying the voters equal voting rights...
01 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Picture of skyscraper in New York behind a bridge.
Knives Come Out Against Reform at NYC CRC Hearing as Independents Rise
Last week in Staten Island, the NYC Charter Revision Commission held its next-to-last public hearing. As Commissioner Diane Savino commented, addressing NYC's closed primary system “is the single biggest issue we’ve heard this year.”...
30 Jun, 2025
-
3 min read

Latest articles

CA capitol building dome with flags.
Why is CA Senator Mike McGuire Trying to Kill the Legal Cannabis Industry?
California’s legal cannabis industry is under mounting pressure, and in early June, state lawmakers and the governor appeared poised to help. A bill to freeze the state’s cannabis excise tax at 15% sailed through the State Assembly with a unanimous 74-0 vote. The governor’s office backed the plan. And legal cannabis businesses, still struggling to compete with unregulated sellers and mounting operating costs, saw a glimmer of hope....
03 Jul, 2025
-
7 min read
I voted buttons
After First RCV Election, Charlottesville Voters Back the Reform: 'They Get It, They Like It, They Want to Do It Again'
A new survey out of Charlottesville, Virginia, shows overwhelming support for ranked choice voting (RCV) following the city’s first use of the system in its June Democratic primary for City Council. Conducted one week after the election, the results found that nearly 90% of respondents support continued use of RCV....
03 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Crowd in Time Square.
NYC Exit Survey: 96% of Voters Understood Their Ranked Choice Ballots
An exit poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the nonprofit better elections group FairVote finds that ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to be supported by a vast majority of voters who find it simple, fair, and easy to use. The findings come in the wake of the city’s third use of RCV in its June 2025 primary elections....
01 Jul, 2025
-
6 min read