On July 16, the Kansas City Star editorialized that Kansas government should no longer pay the election-administration costs of Republican and Democratic primaries, because neither party lets independents vote in their primaries. As the editorial says, independents can vote in major party primaries if they sign up with a major party at the polls on primary day, but some independent voters don’t want to do this. The editorial also points out that in Missouri, there is no such thing as registration into parties, and any voter on primary day is free to choose any primary ballot. Thanks to Shawn Griffiths for the link.
Why should the state recognize any “nominations” by political parties. If the Democratic or Republican parties wish to support a candidate they can run ads on TV or in the newspaper or on the WWW. Persons who want to be associated with a party can join the organization, just like they can erjoin the Rotary, Moose, gardening club, church, NRA, or any other private organization. The organization can communicate with its members by phone, mail, email, etc.
NO primaries.
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ONE election day — to reduce attack TV ad torture on voters.
Equal nominating petitions / filing fees
PR and AppV
“independents can vote in major party primaries if they sign up with a major party at the polls on primary day, but some independent voters don’t want to do this.”
Boo hoo. I understand the criticism of states like New York where you have to switch registrations months in advance. But if you can do it the day of, I don’t see any reason to complain.
Maybe they should only be funded to the proportion of the total electorate that they allow to vote in their primaries.