Party Registration for the Commonwealth?
Patrick Ruffini of The Next Right advocates for closed primaries in Virginia. That means party registration, which I don’t expect to happen anytime soon.
I felt the same way when I lived in the Old Dominion. Now that I’ve seen the other side, I really miss the Mass Meeting / Convention process.
I may disagree with Mr. Ruffini on this one, but he and his colleagues at The Next Right (including Jon Henke of the GREAT Q&O) have fast become a must read.
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I LOVE Virginia’s open Primary system.
Virginians like to have their politics blended anyway, so an open Primary suits our citizens; many of whom are part-time Democrats and sometimes Republicans. This fluid nature of our electorate keeps both parties on their toes.
The chief worry about the open Primary is that people from the opposite party will influence the result. I have know a few activists who vote in the opposite primary, but not a significant number. More often, Virginians genuinely decide to support a Democrat one year and then a Republican in another, so Virginians prefer to be able to support the person, rather than voting for a party label.
One legitimate criticism is that Primaries are too expensive. This could be remedied by shortening the local campaign season to thirty days and statewide to either ninety or 180 days.
As we have recently witnessed, Conventions can too easily be subverted, or at least stacked against a challenger. I am confident that with Jeff Frederick as Republican Chairman, at least during his tenure, any Conventions will be fair. However, I stand with the majority of Virginians in my steadfast support of our tradition of having open Primaries and blended politics. It helps keep the politicians from taking any of us for granted.