On March 1, Texas hosted the first Republican primary in the country. About two months later, Ohio and Indiana held their official primaries. The nation’s primary elections heat up as the temperatures are heating up, and boy are they hot!
13 states had finished their primary elections by the end of May, providing at least a preliminary indication of who might be on the ballot for the 2022 midterm elections. Six incumbent Republicans and three incumbent Democrats in Texas have lost their seats since the first primary.
In the 2022 midterm elections, these nine lawmakers will not be representing their party. However, political experts think that the way certain states have set up their primary systems has muddied the primary process. Primaries are not elections.
They are methods for each party to select the candidate they want to run in the “general election.” Most insist that open primaries are a bad idea. The difference between an “open primary” vs. a “closed primary” is determined by who the state law allows to vote in the primary.
Open signifies that a particular party’s primary is “open to all voters.” Party affiliation does not matter. It doesn’t take long to see how an opposition party could devise a scheme to knock out the other party’s strongest candidate.
It’s happened before, by both Republicans and Democrats. Back in 2002, the sitting California governor took out ads in an effort to manipulate the Republican gubernatorial primary in his state. However, 10 months into his second term, Gray Davis was recalled.
There are situations where members of one party try to manipulate the other party’s primary. However, there have also been situations where a member of a particular party will present a false platform to lure other party voters to help them win a challenging primary.
The bottom line is that most people feel that open primaries are not good. Conservatives in nine states agree that the time has come to close the door on open primaries. Leaders in Georgia and Ohio are spearheading the campaign.
These conservative lawmakers are urging Republicans to take the steps necessary to close the primaries in these nine critical states. President of the Atlanta Tea Party, Debbie Dooley, along with Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci.
Each expressed aggravation over how Democrats are “weaponizing” crossover voting. Open primaries allow Democrats to manipulate the outcomes of important Republican Party primaries. Renacci and Dooley insist that it’s happening all across the country.
Democrats are trying to alter elections to help moderates or to nominate candidates who are highly unlikely to win the general election. The other seven states strongly considering this change are Alabama, Montana, Missouri, Tennessee, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and Texas.
Dooley said that Landmark Communications estimated that anywhere from 67,000 to 85,000 voters cast ballots in Georgia’s 2020 Democratic primaries turned around and voted in Republican primaries in 2022.
Dooley went on to insist that the number of “crossover” Democrat votes for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was enough to give him the 50 percent necessary to beat Georgia Representative Jody Hice in the primary.
The co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots believes Georgia must eliminate the open primary set up to stop Democrats from meddling in Republican primaries. Furthermore, she believes they could use this scheme to stop President Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
Georgia’s election data estimates that over a quarter of a million Democrats crossed party lines during the 2022 primaries. On June 6, State Representative David Clark and Senator Colton Moore held a press conference.
Both lawmakers vowed to introduce legislation “in the name of election integrity” to close Georgia’s primaries. One of the rules being considered would require a voter to indicate their party affiliation on their registration no less than 60 days ahead of the primary.
That would make it more difficult to just switch parties to manipulate an election and then switch back. It’s clear that Democrats are using the open primary process to sabotage Republican primaries. Liberals are staring down an avalanche in the 2022 midterms.
The Democrat Party is in total disarray. Americans are going to use the 2022 midterms as a referendum on Joe Biden’s pitiful performance in the White House. Democrats know they’re going to lose unless they manipulate the election.
Open primaries are one place they can start. Open primaries must be stopped. They offer too great an opportunity for purposeful manipulation. America must begin to rebuild trust in our elections. Closed primaries are one place to start.