Another View of Open Primaries

The Oregon Open Primary initiative would replace the limited-participation primary with one that involves all voters. Every registered voter, regardless of party affiliation or lack thereof, would receive the same ballot in the May primary and could vote for whichever candidate best represented his or her views. The top two vote getters then would advance to the November election. The underlying difference between open primaries and closed primaries is that open systems put the power fully in the hands of the entire electorate.

I have supported this type of primaries here in NY. But there are others who see it differently. Here is a different view:

"First of all, this is not an open primary. An open primary is when people are allowed to choose which ballot they want to vote on, regardless of their party affiliation. It is handled in different ways - maybe you choose your ballot the day of the election (Texas does this, as they have no party registration), maybe those who are non-affiliated can choose to vote on a partisan ballot, etc. But the open primary still has separate ballots for the Democratic and Republican Parties. And the November ballot contains the Democratic and Republican nominees as well as those selected by the minor parties and independents. This in reality does away with the primary as we know it. In this case, everyone runs on the May ballot. Only the top two will be on the November ballot.

Doing it this way actually takes away participation in the election by the majority of voters. Right now, those registered as Democrats and those registered as Republicans pick their nominee in May. It's held at the same time as many non-partisan elections (and in even years at the same time as the presidential primary). Minor parties select their candidates through conventions and independents through signature gathering. One representative of each party and independents then are on the November ballot.

Under this new proposal, only two candidates will be on the ballot in November - regardless of party affiliation. So in parts of Portland the chance is there would be two Democrats on the general ballot. There's almost no chance a minor party candidate would be on the ballot in November.

It is likely what would happen is that parties would take their nomination process internal (maybe some sort of caucus process or having elected Precinct Committee People choosing). In 2006, more than 80,000 Democrats participated in the primary election. A caucus process or PCP process would bring that number down significantly - maybe down to a few thousand. Their choice would then be the only candidate on the May ballot from that Party. Which is more Democratic - 80,000+ choosing the nominee from multiple candidates or a small number choosing for everyone?

This ballot measure does not (and cannot) change how the presidential primary is done, so you'd still be having a partisan ballot for the presidential race. So either Ds/Rs would get a different ballot that includes president, or they'd have to get a separate ballot that is just for president.

This measure also makes other changes, including how vacancies to the state legislature are filled and the term length for PCPs. If this measure was to be approved by the voters, party affiliation no longer has to be taken into consideration when filling vacancies. Right now, if a Republican legislator resigns, dies, etc., they are supposed to be replaced with a Republican. Under this measure, that would not be the case.

So, if this measure was in effect now: If State Representative Karen Minnis (R, Wood Village) were to resign, the Multnomah County Commission (who chooses the replacement) could then replace her with a Democrat. They would then be creating an "incumbent" who is from a different political party than the voters chose.

This ballot measure will end up costing us more, with fewer people getting to participate in choosing who the nominees will be."

What is your opinion about Open Primaries?

Michael H. Drucker
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