OPINION: Chris Kelly Opinion: Third-party voters second-class citizens in closed primary
May 17—Like lots of lapsed voters, Kevin Williams grew disgusted with politics and dropped out of the electoral process after years of faithful voting.
When the 67-year-old retired chef from Glenburn Twp realized he was cheating himself out of a chance to change the municipal governments that most affect his life, he came back. Neither major party appealed to him, so he registered as an independent.
The choice made him a second-class voter stuck with nominees chosen exclusively by Democrats and Republicans. More than a million Pennsylvanians like Kevin were barred from Tuesday's primary election.
The alleged commonwealth is one of nine states with closed primary elections. Unless there's a ballot question, a proposed amendment to the state Constitution or a special election, independents and third-party voters can't participate.
There are about 1 million registered voters in Pennsylvania who are unaffiliated, as well as about 350,000 who belong to third parties, according to state voting data. Combined, they represent almost 15% of the state's electorate.
In Lackawanna County, the number is 11.7%. That's a lot of voters shut out of elections that decide who makes the ballot in November — and sometimes decide contests outright. Considering chronically low turnout in Lackawanna County, a disturbingly small percentage of registered voters have huge influence in who runs local and county governments and school boards.
What's an unaffiliated voter to do? Kevin changed his registration to Democrat. He's still no fan of either party, but wanted to vote for a specific Dem running for county commissioner.
"I like him and I want to help him get through to the general election," Kevin told me Monday. "I pay more attention to local elections because they're the ones that affect me personally and most affect my life. These are the people who are going to spend my tax money, pass ordinances and run school districts."
Indeed, yet scores of registered voters who live with the consequences of elections are barred from selecting nominees for November. Every year, a handful of Republican and Democratic lawmakers propose a bill that would open the primary. For some reason, their Republican and Democratic colleagues won't pass it.
Suggestions of shrinking the Legislature or eliminating "gifts" and per diem allowances seem to suffer the same fate. It's almost like our elected representatives refuse to relinquish any advantage that serves them at the endless expense of the electorate.
Kevin worked around the rules by switching parties, which county Director of Elections Beth Hopkins said is more common in municipal elections.
"It's usually because the voter believes in a specific candidate and they switch with the intention of switching back for the general election," she said.
Kevin hasn't decided whether he will switch back to independent, but he's certain it's wrong to exclude unaffiliated voters from the process of electing nominees. And it's wrong for registered voters to take themselves out of the process, no matter how disgusted they are by politics.
"Especially in the municipal elections," he said. "These are the elections that have a real impact on your daily life. If you don't exercise your right to vote, you have no right to complain. You get the government you vote for, and the government you don't vote for."
Unaffiliated Pennsylvania voters get both.
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, is a registered Democrat, mostly so he can vote in the primary election. Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.com/kelly. Contact the writer: kellysworld @timesshamrock.com; @cjkink on Twitter; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.
