‘It is time for the Democratic Party to put aside pretexts and (support) limited open primaries’

Thank you for your editorial, “Primary days’ primary need: primary reform” (June 2-8, 2023, p. 12), urging the Legislature to enfranchise over 1.1 million Pennsylvanians by enabling independent voters (not registered with any political party) to participate in PA’s state-run, state-funded primaries.

On June 22, 2023, the House Sub-committee on Campaign Finance and Elections held a very informative hearing about open primary bills HB976 and HB979, which can be re-played on YouTube:

It was disheartening to hear newly elected Pike County representative Tarah Probst withhold her support for this long overdue reform:

“My concern was having manipulation from Republicans voting for Democrats and Democrats voting for Republicans . . . . I just don’t know how to get there without other manipulations happening.”

Her ostensible concern is bogus. Witnesses from the League of Woman Voters PA, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and others, explained that the reform would not allow Democrats or Republicans to cross-vote.

While individual Democrats in the House and the Senate have co-sponsored or otherwise supported limited open primaries legislation, Ms. Probst’s pretextual objection appears to be the position of the state party establishment.

Why?

The 2022 election suggests that the state party’s strategy is to have the Republican Party nominate candidates who alienate swing voters. For example, Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate Shapiro caused hundreds of thousands of dollars to be spent on media attacking Republican primary candidate Mastriano in order to help Mastriano defeat a more moderate candidate in the Republican’s closed primary.

Similarly, Democratic strategists likely believe that the party gained its razor thin majority in the Pennsylvania House because the closed Republican Party primary nominated enough staunchly anti-abortion candidates to raise a fear that an Republican majority would pass the proposed anti-abortion constitutional amendment a second time.

The experience in states that have opened their primaries is that enfranchising independents makes it more difficult for candidates to win, if they espouse polarizing views and negative rhetoric. The state Democratic Party is playing with fire when it seeks an advantage in the general election by bolstering the least moderate Republican Party candidates in the primaries.

It is time for the Democratic Party to put aside pretexts, and join with reform-minded Republicans to enact limited open primaries.

Arthur Block

Milford