The Republican Party should take a cue from Democrats and make its side of primary elections voter friendly. That would be appropriate since all taxpayers have a financial stake in determining candidates for Election Day.
On even-numbered years Allen County taxpayers foot a $10,000 bill for the August primary election, which essentially is closed to a large number of voters. The same is true elsewhere in Kansas.
Primary elections are when the two major parties settle on who will be on county, state and national general election ballots.
Democrats welcome unaffiliated voters to have a role without any prerequisites. Republicans permit only those who sign a registration card declaring themselves Republicans.
In Allen County, 3,851 residents are registered as Republicans, 1,538 as Democrats, 50 as Libertarians and a whopping 2,392 — 30.5 percent of the 7,831 total — are unaffiliated.
Kansas Republicans want to make their club even more exclusive. A bill floating in the Legislature would require anyone voting in a primary to have been registered with either party before June 1, the candidate filing deadline. It’s a GOP proposal, but Democrats would be dragged along by the same requirement.
Republican rationale for the change is that some voters change their registration in a mean-spirited way, just to skew the outcome of primaries. A few probably do, but it’s doubtful if the number ever is great enough to make a difference.
Mainly, it’s another case of the unfounded paranoia that seems to have infected the GOP in recent years.
Primaries seldom draw legions of voters and making the process more ecumenical might well increase participation, which would provide a more accurate reading of candidate support.
MEANWHILE, it seems reasonable that those who benefit from partisan primary elections, and not those on the outside looking in, should bear the cost.
Let the parties pay for the primaries.
It is a change that should be championed by conservative Republicans who are quick to trumpet their eagerness to cut taxes and reduce governmental influence.
It never will be considered, of course, unless an uprising of monumental proportions gave Libertarians the upper hand.
— Bob Johnson
