Murphy: early open primaries will be 'death of the two-party system'
By Danny Reiter, PolitickerMD.com ReporterThe chair of the Maryland delegation to the Republican National Convention says he won't vote for a 2012 primary calendar that allows early states to hold primaries that allow independents to vote.
Republicans will be considering a complete revamping of their primary calendar at their national convention in two weeks and former state Del. Don Murphy (R-Baltimore County) is making his stance clear. He says outsiders are ruining the process.
"Allowing these open primary states to lead off the primary process will be the death of the two-party system," he told PolitickerMD.com. "The open status, to varying degrees, allows people who are not registered members of our parties, to participate in our nominating process. This makes these non-party members more relevant to the process than party activists here in Maryland."
Murphy is chair of the Maryland delegation and served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1995-2003.
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Open primaries help minority parties
The last commenter is correct. When you are such a small minority party as the Republicans in MD, letting more people vote in your primary can only help. There are large numbers of "declines" who are willing to vote for Republicans in the general election (as Ehrlich's win proved).
Del. McConkey, I think you overestimate the ideological coherence of the two parties. There are no loyalty oaths or policy quizzes required to register with a political party in this country. All you have to do is check a box. Who is to say what a "real Republican" is?
And you are wrong about the closed primary process being flexible. If you want to change your party affiliation, you are required to do so 12 weeks out (Nov. 19 to have voted in the Feb. 12 primary)!
As a city voter, I had to put in my application the very next day after the city primary to be able switch back to 'R' for the presidential primary. Do you really expect the average voter to decide to vote in the state Republican primary in September all the way back in June? Do you realize that these policies are in place precisely to prevent people from voting Republican?
What exactly are you afraid of, anyway, Del. McConkey? Can the MD GOP possibly be more incoherent and irrelevant than it already is?
Don is wrong on this one.
Don is wrong on this one.
First, Maryland is not a two party state. It's a one party state. The only way for it to become a two party state is when the equation is Democrats vs. everybody else.
Second, GOP success in MD depends heavily on communicating with like-minded unaffilated voters. In 2000, the MD GOP opened its primary to unaffiliated voters. two years later, it won the governor's house.
It was not a coincidence.
Open primaries are a mistake
I agree with Don Murphy. I think it is a bad idea to give open primaries so much influence in our selection of the president. The whole purpose of a primary is for the PARTY to select a candidate that the PARTY can unite behind.
The credibility of that process will be greatly diminished, and it will fracture the party, if it appears that outside forces changed the outcome of the process. I think a closed primary system is flexible enough that if a voter is excited by the Republican candidate, the voter can easily take the steps necessary to vote in the Republican primary. A closed primary system is flexible enough to allow those motivated voters without also including random voters who would pop in for the day. I think it would be a mistake to encourage or attempt to raise the prominence of open primaries in our selection process.
Murphy is right. Allowing
Murphy is right. Allowing voters who do not even care enough about the Party to join it
to pick the Party's nominee is insulting to those of us who do. Party nominees should be picked by those who believe in the principles of the Party.
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