January 13, 2012

BE A PART OF PRIMARY ELECTIONS

We have some very important primary elections coming up for President, Congress and United States Senate. I urge you to cast the most powerful vote you can cast—that is to vote in the primaries. But to do so, you must be a member of a political party.

People often complain that they don't like either of the two major party choices they have on election day, but they don't vote in the primaries—when their vote would actually carry relatively more weight (because their vote would be one among fewer voters) and would have a greater influence on determining who ultimately wins a given electoral race.

Indeed, in some districts where a single party truly dominates the area, the primary is essentially the election. Yet, voter turn-out for primaries remains low even there.

Today far fewer voters are registered with any party, and more and more are registered as unaffiliated—or independent. In Simsbury, for example, the largest single group of voters is unaffiliated, with 5,485 voters. There are 5,413 Republicans, 4,647 Democrats, and 62 registered with other minor parties.

Nationally, only about 30% of voters are enrolled as Democrats and 28% as Republicans.

Some voters have told me they aren't affiliated with a party because they don't want to have to vote only for candidates of that party. This is a misconception. You can vote for anyone you want to in general elections, even if you are enrolled as a Democrat or Republican.

Others have told me they are independent because they don't want all the junk mail from each party. But I suspect that unaffiliated voters get even more junk mail than party-enrolled voters, because candidates assume they are more undecided than party loyalists.

Although I personally support and have submitted bills in the past allowing independents to vote in the primaries, this is not the current law in Connecticut. Furthermore, there appears to be little appetite amongst my legislative colleagues for adopting such a change.

Even in the highly publicized Presidential primaries of 2008, in Connecticut's Democratic turnout statewide was just 51.1 percent; and Republican turnout just 36.7 percent. Simsbury voters beat state averages with 43 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of Democrats casting ballots.

In the last gubernatorial primary, Simsbury turnout was 34 percent of eligible Democrats and 36% of eligible Republicans. In Simsbury's last state senate primary, in which only Republicans could vote, only 15.4 percent, or 814 voters, came to the polls.

National studies show that in recent years, about 17-19 percent of registered voters vote in primaries. So one-fifth of the electorate in many ways is determining the outcome of the election. One might appropriately assume that the one-fifth that votes in primaries is not representative of the vast center of the country, which may help explain why there appears to be more polarization in politics as voter turn-out declines.

The Presidential Primary is Tuesday, April 24. If you want to get in on the important action of the primary election, here are a few key dates to remember.

If you want to change parties in order to vote in the Presidential primary, the deadline for doing so is Jan. 24. If you are unaffiliated or not registered at all, and you want to vote in the Presidential primary, the deadline to enroll by mail in a party is April 19 or to enroll in person at town hall is April 23.

And don't forget to mark your summer calendars. Primaries for United States Congress and Senate will be held on Aug. 10.

Find something interesting or troubling? Shoot me an email at linda.schofield@cga.ct.gov or call me at home at 651-8739