Here’s a lawsuit that should never have been accepted by the court. The GOP wants to limit voters in Republican primaries to registered Republicans. This is exactly what we don’t want, anywhere in the nation.
This suit was brought by the Greenville GOP. Not that it matters, but these are the most rabid and radical Bible thumping libertarians in the state. I doubt they have an entire brain between them. I mention it because if ever we’re not sure about an issue, these people provide a reliable guide as to what not to do.
In South Carolina, the legislature has determined that voters are not required to declare party affiliation when registering. We can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries – but not both – no matter our party affiliation.
Primaries everywhere have traditionally drawn very few voters. Thanks to gerrymandering – with a nod to the Supreme Court’s identity politics rulings – fewer and fewer elections are contested. Candidates run unopposed.
But our two political parties are becoming substantially more radical and as a result, two things are happening; party loyalists are creating purity tests to screen out centrists and voters of all stripes are increasingly furious about the strangle hold radical parties have on government.
The primary system often allows a few thousand voters – loyal party members – to put a legislator directly into office with no say-so from the rest of the voters in a district. Sometimes voters are faced with two equally unacceptable candidates after the two parties have eliminated candidates we voters would prefer. But as we’ve seen in the 2010 elections, these small numbers in primaries can allow a few thousand angry party members to overrule party leadership. In South Carolina, a few thousand independents or even a few thousand enemy-party members could do the same thing. I see that as good.
Political parties argue that they have the right to pick whomever they please without interference from non-believers.
In a motion for an expedited hearing and ruling, the Republican Party said that "it would cause extreme prejudice" if rivals who don't espouse the party platform can exert their influence in the June primaries. That’s exactly what I’d like us to do.
The Greenville Republican Party says voters can write in candidate names on ballots and form their own parties to nominate candidates of their own – a reasonable enough position normally. But because the parties have almost monopolistic control and because so much is happening in primaries, I want election laws as they are. In fact, I want election laws liberalized such that the monopolies are substantially weakened.
Now, as to our courts.
The Greenville GOP wants changes to South Carolina election laws and they want a judge to hurry his decision.
But the election rules in place for South Carolina were established by the duly elected and Constitutionally empowered legislature and signed by the similarly legitimate Governor – it doesn’t matter but these were and are Republicans. No one has found any fault with the implementation of the law by the duly established South Carolina Board of Elections.
This suit should never have been heard. There are no grounds for challenging the law. There is no urgency, this suit could have been brought years ago – in fact, the GOP has brought this suit, and lost, countless times before. It would be unacceptable for a judge to change any law which is what the GOP wants done immediately in this case. Judges may reject a law but never change one. This judge is an idiot and these Republicans are hypocrites.
We need tort reform.
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