Arizona's Presidential Preference Election is being held tomorrow, and voters who registered as Democratic, Republican or Green Party members will be able to participate. Independent voters will not.
Every four years, we hear argument after argument against the injustices of our current voting system; how it suppresses the vote or disenfranchises people who don't choose to align themselves with a party. I think those arguments are hogwash.
Firstly, the elections being held tomorrow are not Arizona's primary elections — those are held in August, where everyone from gubernatorial to U.S. Senate candidates are nominated to run for office. These contests are of a "hybrid" variety, where independent voters can vote for whichever candidate they like. Tomorrow, however, the parties are choosing who will represent them in the election in the fall.
Why would I, a voter registered with a political party, want anyone not registered in the same party choosing who represents me in a presidential election? People say a closed primary is unfair to the independent voter, but what about what's fair for me?
Registering with a party is free, and you owe the party nothing in terms of paying dues or volunteer hours. In fact, you don't have to do anything outside of registering to say you're in a party, and in Arizona, registering is incredibly easy. Theoretically, a voter could be a independent during the 3 years and 11 months between Presidential Preference Elections but register before the contests if they felt strongly enough about a particular party's candidates. In Arizona, that can be done in minutes online.
Related: Here's how to register to vote for your state's presidential primary
Every voter makes a conscious decision at registration to either choose a party or not, and I don't feel sorry for adults who choose not to. That's their right, but they made the choice to not have a political party, and they made the choice to not participate in who the parties select to run for President.
Furthermore, why are we catering to a segment of the voting populace that can't be counted on to show up and vote? Independent voters consistently stay home or otherwise don't vote on election day. Polls show that most people who say they are independent lean towards one party or another anyway, so why not commit?
Another cause for concern is the issue of "party raiding," or voters registered for Party A voting in Party B's primary election with the hope of nominating a weak or bad candidate to represent Party B. It may sound like far-fetched fear mongering, but this has happened in recent history with varying degrees of success. I believe that is more undemocratic than closing primaries to registered party members.
Voting in, say, the Republican preference election as an independent voter would be akin to you showing up to a party that you weren't necessarily invited to for five minutes, yet having a say in what everyone at the party does that night. What about the people who spent the last few weeks organizing the party? Is it really fair to say that you're opinion as a temporary attendee holds as much weight on what the party theme will be as everyone else who's actually worked on it?
Related: With closed primaries, you don't have the right to vote
Political parties are private organizations who spend billions of their own money raised by fundraising through their registered members to put forth candidates for public office across the country. They are not an extension of the government, merely well-organized political machines that work hard to represent their members. Federal election laws shouldn't apply to primaries because they're not federal elections. State parties are free to set their own rules for their elections, and they should restrict participation to only their registered members.
Related links:
When and where to see your favorite presidential candidate in Arizona before Tuesday
Proposition 121 would abolish existing primary system
Reach the columnist at cjwood3@asu.edu or follow @chriswood_311 on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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