A ReCenter Indiana billboard on display in Merrillville, in Northwest Indiana. (Photo provided by ReCenter Indiana)
After an outside group encouraged Democrats to vote in the GOP governor’s primary last May, a bill has been filed to close Indiana’s primary system.
That didn’t happen in 2008 when conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh urged Republicans to do the same thing in the presidential race, which he dubbed “Operation Chaos.”
But things are different now, as Indiana’s Republican supermajorities seek to consolidate their control.
I’m going to be honest and say I don’t really have a firm opinion on the proposal. So, I spent a few days researching how it works in other states and talking to former party chairs and politicos from both sides of the aisle to understand the pros and cons.
The thing they all agreed on is that it would reduce primary turnout and be an administrative nightmare.
Types of systems
The National Conference of State Legislatures says primaries can be categorized as closed, partially closed, partially open, open to unaffiliated voters, open or multi-party.
Nineteen states are either partially closed or closed, while 19 states are either partially open or open. The rest fall in the other categories.
Indiana is considered partially open because you don’t register as a member of the Republican or Democratic parties. But you do choose a Republican or Democratic ballot when voting in a primary. Your choice of ballot is also public record.
The only real deterrent from crossover voting is that you could negatively impact your ability to run for office in the future under a party’s umbrella.
The system seems to largely work fine here in Indiana.
But the Indianapolis Star reported that Republicans are moving to closed primaries in other states, including Louisiana and Wyoming.
Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, filed legislation to close Indiana’s primary system. House Bill 1029 would allow a Hoosier to vote in a primary election only if the voter has “properly” affiliated with a specific political party by Dec. 31 the year before a May primary.
“Primary elections should reflect the true will of a political party’s members,” Davis said in a statement to IndyStar. “By moving to a closed primary system, Indiana can ensure that the nominees selected by each party represent the values and priorities of its supporters.”
One former chair I spoke with said the change would be chaotic, requiring all voters to have to re-register under a party if they want to pull a primary ballot. And they expect thousands to be unaware of the change and turned away at the polls during the first impacted election.
And the result won’t be much different than what Indiana has now.
Another chair said turnout will drop because Americans don’t necessarily want to be pigeonholed with an “R” or “D” after their name. They want the freedom to vote for the best candidate in races that are important to them.
This person noted that in some parts of the state, the only contested races are in the primary. The current system allows for a voter who maybe is a Republican nationally to still have a say in their local race for prosecutor or sheriff.
“I mean, my guess is that once you get through a couple election cycles, it’ll be a distinction without a difference. It’ll just be bumpy getting there,” a former politico said.
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