Going on the premise that politics are a turnoff because our political parties have too many radical or conservative elements, is hurting the country’s democratic process.
When mainstream voters decide to be unaffiliated with a political party, it allows fewer people to have a greater say especially in primary elections when only those aligned with a political party can vote.
In Tuesday’s primary election, 525 Allen County voters were listed as unaffiliated.
Countywide, they comprise almost 28% of all voters, with Republicans comprising about 55% and Democrats a scant 17%.
For the unaffiliated, Tuesday’s ballot contained only the question of whether the state constitution should continue to protect a woman’s right to abortion.
Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats had a slew of decisions to make including the races for the U.S. Senate and the state offices for attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer.
Another consequence of primary elections, is that generally only the most impassioned bother to vote, increasing the likelihood that single-issue rabble-rousers garner the most votes.
Which is how the never-say-die Kris Kobach is now the Republican nominee for attorney general.
His promise as attorney general?
“I’ll wake up every morning having my breakfast thinking about what our next lawsuit against Joe Biden is going to be,” Kobach said.
Oh, great.
From his tenure as secretary of state, 2011-2019, Kobach put Kansas on the hook for more than $4 million in legal fees for his efforts to disenfranchise voters.
Kobach pushed the baseless theory that “noncitizens” were rigging election results. Kansas legislators swallowed the bait, giving Kobach carte blanche to write legislation that required people to track down a citizenship document — such as a passport or birth certificate — or be barred from the ballot box.
The new law prevented more than 35,000 eligible voters from participating in the 2016 election and discouraged countless others from participating.
The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued Kansas for Kobach’s racist shenanigans, incurring the enormous fees.
