Three Republican members of the Michigan State House have introduced HB 5956, which would convert Michigan primaries from open to closed. The sponsors are Ray Franz of Onekama, Greg MacMaster of Kewadin, and Bob Genetski of Allegan County. The bill is in the 2013-2014 legislative session, so there is very little time left for this bill to advance. Also, neither MacMaster nor Genetski ran for re-election, so those two won’t be in the 2015-2016 session. MacMaster did run for State Senate but he lost the Republican primary.
Franz and MacMaster also introduced HB 5955, which would provide that major parties nominate for Governor and state legislature by party meeting instead of by direct primary. Already, major parties in Michigan nominate some of the lesser statewide offices by party meeting instead of by primary.
Republicans never cease in finding ways to cut off their nose to spite their face. With closed primaries, only the dire hard, hard core pro capitalists will vote, therefore nominating candidates who will be out of touch with the average voter.
Then when the Democrats nominate ultra-liberal nominees, who go on to win in November, the Republicans squeal about how the country is going to pot. The Republicans are riding how right now, but that balloon will burst as soon as reality sets in with the agenda the have for the American worker.
The Republicans never cease to find ways to cut off their nose to spite their face. With closed primaries, then only hard core pro-capitalists conservatives will be nominated. Then when hyper liberal Democrats candidates win their primaries, and go on to win the General Election, they scream about how the country is going to pot.
When will the Republicans ever learn that until they come out in favor of a living wage, sustaining Social Security, safeguarding Medicare, and recognizing that a Single Payer Health Care System is the only answer to our health care crisis, will the rank and file working people really trust them.
1963 Mich Const –
Art. II, Sec. 4. The legislature shall enact laws to regulate the time, place and manner of all nominations and elections, except as otherwise provided in this constitution or in the constitution and laws of the United States. The legislature shall enact laws to preserve the purity of elections, [to preserve the secrecy of the ballot], to guard against abuses of the elective franchise, and to provide for a system of voter registration and absentee voting. No law shall be enacted which permits a candidate in any partisan primary or partisan election to have a ballot designation except when required for identification of candidates for the same office who have the same or similar surnames.
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Note bracket words.
Mich had party hack closed primaries until 1938 — i.e. lots of folks got purged based on which party hack primary they voted in.
i.e. the bill is blatantly unconstitutional regarding any primary election stuff.
The party hack conventions are a separate matter.