How to Prevent Abuses in Primary Elections

In an open primary, voters arriving at their precinct can choose a ballot for any party, regardless of their official party affiliation. Blanket primaries go even further, allowing any voter to vote for any candidate of any party for any office. California had a blanket primary in 2000 (although in the presidential race the votes only counted when the voter voted for a candidate from his or her own party). In a blanket primary, each voter gets a ballot listing every candidate from every party for every office.

The problem with open and blanket primaries is that they give voters of one party the opportunity to sabotage or co-opt the primary election of another party. Sabotage occurs when insincere outside voters try to nominate a ``fringe'' candidate with little chance in the general election. Co-opting, on the other hand, occurs when outside voters try to nominate a candidate they actually prefer but who does not represent the mainstream of the candidate's own party. Open primaries are bad enough, but blanket primaries are even worse. Open primaries at least require voters to vote for candidates of the same party for all the offices on a ballot, but blanket primaries allow voters to choose any candidate from any party for any office.

How many voters would be willing to withdraw from their own party primary to vote in another party's primary? Usually not many--if the voter's own party primary is competitive. But what if it isn't? Reagan, ran uncontested for reelection in 1984, and Clinton ran uncontested in 1996, for example. Open and blanket primaries were not common then, but what if they had been? Republicans would have been absolutely free to sabotage or co-opt the Democratic primary in 1984, and Democrats would have been free to do the same to the Republican primary in 1996. Such a situation would be grossly unfair, hence open and blanket primaries should be abolished.

Voters can switch their official party affiliation to vote in the opposition primary, of course. There is no sincerity test for party registration, nor should there be. But there is a simple way to prevent attempts to sabotage or co-opt primary elections. Voters should not be allowed to vote in a party primary unless they have been registered well in advance of the election, say six months. Furthermore, voters should not be allowed to switch parties if their current party has the presidency and is in the first term. That would prevent voters from taking advantage of an uncontested (or weakly contested) primary in their own party.