Independents could lose their right to vote in GOP primary elections
Sep 23, 2014, 7:00 AM | Updated: 7:00 am
PHOENIX — Arizona’s Republican primary election may soon be closed to independent voters. The state’s GOP Chairman Robert Graham has announced plans to appoint a committee to review the possibility of having a closed primary.
Valley political expert Mike O’Neil said a closed Republican primary election would violate voter rights.
“What that would do would be to completely disenfranchise voters from voting in the primary and the primary is almost always the election that truly matters,” O’Neil said.
Many conservative members of the Republican Party have indicated that independent voters could be diminishing the Republican Party’s platform. Graham said the committee would seek information from other states that closed their primaries in order to make their decision.
O’Neil argued the GOP is not a completely private organization because they receive public funding. He said that means they cannot bar a select group of people from voting in the primary election.
“They’re holding their elections paid for by public funds and if you want to be a private organization then don’t take public funding to run your elections, do it in private then you can do whatever you want,” he said.
O’Neil added that he believes the GOP made a bad decision by suggesting the idea of closing their primary elections so close to the general election.
“If I were a democrat, I would raise holy-hell about this in the next month because there is clear ground for them to be gained on this point among independent voters,” he said. “A smart move by a democrat would be to scream from here to kingdom come trying to cast blame on this point.”
The state’s Democratic Party has announced that they will continue to encourage independents to vote in the party’s primary elections.
“The Arizona Democratic Party is firmly committed to keeping our primaries open to independent voters,” Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director DJ Quinlan said. “I think it’s outlandish that a major political party in Arizona would even consider closing their primary to the largest voter group in Arizona which is Independents.”
According to figures released by Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Independents make up 34.88 percent of the state’s electorate.
During the August primary election, Independents accounted for more than 14 percent of all votes; 70 percent voted in the Republican primary, making up 16.2 percent of all Republican ballots cast. Independents also accounted for 11.7 of all Democratic ballots cast in August.
Quinlan said the only reason the GOP would want a closed primary is to keep the party as conservative as possible.
“Really what it does is say more about the state of their current party which is controlled by folks who are far too extreme,” he said. “What our candidates are saying is that we welcome votes from democrats, independents and reasonable republicans.”
Arizona Republican Party Director of Communications Tom Sifert said Chairman Robert Graham would not be available for comment on the issue until after the general election on Nov. 4.
O’Neil said it’s not surprising to him that the party will not discuss the issue.
“The last thing (Graham) would want is for this to get a lot of discussion right now before the election and raising a big ruckus about a movement within the Republican party to take away your right to vote in primaries,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.