South Carolina Representative Garry R. Smith (R-Simpsonville) has introduced HB 3110. It says that no one may vote in a party primary unless the person signs an affidavit saying he or she is a member of the party. Once a voter had signed such an affidavit, the voter would be deemed to continue to be a member of the same party, until he or she signed another form retracting it. Voters could not switch within 30 days of a primary.
The bill does not include presidential primaries, and if passed, would go into effect in time for the congressional primary of June 2012. Currently South Carolina has open primaries. Any voter, on primary day, can decide which party’s primary ballot to use. The Greenville County Republican Party has a pending lawsuit in U.S. District Court, in which the party seeks to implement such a procedure even in the absence of any state law on the subject. That case is The Greenville County Republican Party Executive Committee v State of South Carolina, 6:10-cv-1407.
Any blood oaths, brain scans, lie detector tests, etc. required to be connected with a robot party hack gang ???
P.R. and App.V. NOW
NO primaries.
Since the bill prohibits parties from inviting independents to vote in their primaries, it is unconstitutional (Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut).
The state Republican Party has also joined that lawsuit.
South Carolina parties also have the option of nominating by convention. Such a nominating convention can be triggered by a 75 percent vote of the party convention. The lawsuit also challenges the 75 percent rule.
Since South Carolina is also in the 4th circuit, the ruling in Miller v. Cunningham may control; that suit was brought by a local unit of the Virginia Republican Party in 2005 (now-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was the lawyer who filed the suit).
In Virginia, the parties have a number of nominating options, with the exception that incumbents are permitted to choose the method by which they run for renomination. The 4th circuit said that, when an incumbent forces a party to hold a primary, the party may close that primary. The court reasoned that, if a party wanted a closed process, and it had a choice, it could nominate by a method other than the primary.
To my knowledge, there has not yet been a closed primary in a regular election in Virginia. In 2008, the Republicans announced that they would require voters to sign a loyalty pledge in order to vote in the presidential primary, but the voters raised so much hell that the party dropped this requirement.
In the special election to fill Cuccinelli’s state Senate seat, the Republicans held a “firehouse primary” to choose their candidate. They required all voters to sign a loyalty pledge.
The Virginia lawsuit was originally called Miller v. Brown.
Political Party’s have the right of self determination. (as reinforced by recent majority opinions-US Supreme Court Justice Scalia)The process by which Party’s norminate their candidates is the SOLE province of those registered with that Party. ‘independants’ –opt out of this process by such declaration. !! Their voice is thereby reserved for General Elections ONLY !!!
# 4 See the 2 Texas White Donkey Primary cases in circa 1929-1932 — the REAL start of *modern* civil rights stuff.
Sorry — PUBLIC Electors do the PUBLIC nominations of PUBLIC candidates for PUBLIC offices.
See the 1989 Eu case regarding the totally separate internal clubby stuff of the party hack gangs.
# 4, # 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_primaries
NOT so long ago.
Back to the EVIL past ???
Various individuals and political parties are attempting to intervene on the defendant side in the court case, including the Constitution Party and Labor Party, along with a number of black legislators who arguing that a closed primary would result in racial segregation, and that it would lead to disenfranchisement of voters in areas where a single party is dominant, and the primary effectively determines the winner.
#7: If the SC Republicans win their lawsuit, the Democratic Party will still be able to have an open primary if it wants one. And it’s possible that the Republicans will invite independents to vote in GOP primaries.
“… it would lead to disenfranchisement of voters in areas where a single party is dominant, and the primary effectively determines the winner.”
In his majority opinion in California Democratic Party v. Jones, which struck down the state-mandated blanket primary, Justice Scalia addressed this issue. He said that voters in such jurisdictions should simply JOIN THE PARTY.
#7: Florida and Kentucky have closed primaries. Has that resulted in racial segregation?
North Carolina has semi-closed primaries, in which independents are the only non-members who are eligible to vote. Has that resulted in racial segregation?
My state has open primaries, and the great majority of blacks vote in the Democratic primary. So I guess you could say that open primaries result in racial segregation.
How many incumbent white Donkeys or incumbent black Elephants in the ex-slave State regimes these days ???
Even a lower percentage of marginal gerrymander districts in such States compared to the other States ???
P.R. and App.V.