The Patriot Corner

“I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discrimination's. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.”  George Washington in his Farewell Address We are all well aware of the state of political discourse in the United States. Voters are justifiably disgusted with both major political parties, political discourse has reached the level of shrill background noise and little is really being accomplished other than spending money and talking about problems without offering solutions. This holds true at all levels of government. Obviously, we need change and nothing promotes change better than the light provided by public awareness of the issues.    

There are 2 simple solutions that I see to this problem. We the people of Ohio must insist on being allowed to have either open primaries where we can vote for the candidates of our choice without declaring a party affiliation or we must have nonpartisan blanket primaries in which all candidates appear on the same ballot and the 2 highest vote getter's for an office move to the general election for a runoff.  

As this is written, we are on the verge of an election. An election that, while important to the future of the citizens of Parma, will be decided by far less than a majority of the citizens. The election of which I speak is the Primary being held on May 3 to determine the candidate who will emerge victorious as the Democrat candidate for Mayor of Parma This primary will, in effect, determine who the next Mayor of Parma will be and most of us won’t have a voice in the process.

The reason that this will be decided by a minority of the voters is simple math. Voter turnout is historically low in primary elections but let’s be optimistic and say we have a 50% turnout. There are approximately 55,000 registered voters in Parma according to information readily obtained from the Board of Elections. Also according to the Board of Elections, over 55% of the registered voters in Parma have no party affiliation (Independent), or have some other party affiliation other than Democrat. This means that at the most, less than 25% of the voters will determine the future of our city. In other words, less than 13,000 voters will determine the fate of a city with over 80,000 residents.

To be clear, we will be voting in a “partisan primary” or what is known as a “closed primary”. Those of us that are not part of the Democrat party or choose not to declare an affiliation with that or any other party will not have a vote in this Mayoral primary. Since there are no Republicans running and there are no confirmed Independents running, this primary will determine the Mayor. In my opinion this disenfranchises the majority of voters and the closed primary system allows the political parties to control the process.

 Most of the criteria that may be offered to define what make an election democratic have difficulties in application when it comes to officially democratic but functionally oligarchic elections. To put it more precisely, closed primaries are defined as those that are structurally or procedurally noncompetitive. Our electoral process is controlled by the two major political parties that have no incentive to reform our corrupt political system. Open primaries, which would be opposed by cynical and self-serving politicians, would serve to provide that incentive by increasing political competition.

There are different interpretations of what are considered to be open and closed primary elections. My interpretation is that if voters cannot choose among the candidates of all of the parties on the ballot, it is a closed primary. In other words, voters should be allowed to split their primary tickets, because it is in the primaries where the real choices are made. While some politicians make the spurious argument that some voters choose the weakest candidates of the party they oppose in order to spoil that party's chances in the general elections, logic and common sense suggest otherwise. Generally speaking, people support parties and candidates who best represent their interests.

Those who insist that folks who are not members of a political party have no business voting in that party's caucus are wrong for several reasons.

First: Public elections are not party caucuses and are open to all qualified electors who can choose any party they wish.

Second: There is no requirement that a voter registers with a party or declare a party affiliation.

Third: We have the secret ballot to protect people from harassment or retaliation because of how they voted.

These weak excuses by highly partisan party members are intended to foreclose on efforts to change the political status quo. With open primaries, both major political parties would lose effective control of the political process. The backroom deals of it’s your turn or if you run I won’t, and you support me for this and I will support you for that next time would all be much more difficult to make. Political leaders would no longer be able to predetermine election results and this would in turn generate more participation from citizens as we would then have true choices. As a result, of these choices, we would see a reform of our corrupt political system.   

There are many reasons to support an open primary system but I will only list a few here. We could see a rise of other parties that would challenge both the Republican and Democrat parties. Political competition could encourage participation and become a catalyst for positive change. True representative government rather than a party controlled government could be achieved. Open primary elections have the potential to completely transform our current political system and the nature of political discourse at all levels of government. These are some of the reasons why I will be active in promoting open primaries for Ohio and I ask you to join me in my efforts.