Mechanics of the primary required all manner of information most people do not wish to be public information. The declaration document asked for email addresses, and several other items that would become public record. There are a number of people including THE GUARDIAN who think the voting box is private. Add to this any number of people in the public spotlight who may not wish to have their political affiliation known.
Excluding people from voting for their County Commissioners over party affiliation is another issue that is simply wrong. Who knows the outcome of the election had everyone been allowed to vote and make the decision of party affiliation a private matter. The closed primary does not further the notion of a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
THE GUARDIAN hopes all of this will be worked out at the party meeting in June. The current voting restrictions in the primary does not get more people involved in the process nor is their voice heard. Dominance of the Republican party in Idaho should be enough for party purists.
(Ivory Soap is only 99.44% pure)
It did not take all that much time to fill out the paperwork to vote but I am aprehensive about the part of my info becoming a public record. I'd like to keep my personal busines, my personal business.
ReplyDeleteI can see where people may just blow off voting before surrendering private things to a public record.
The older I get the more concerned I am about all the bits of information about me and my personal life scattered all over the internet and public information data bases. People worry about personal freedom, I worry about my personal privacy and all the layers of information about me I have willingly given up over the years.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind having to show a photo ID to vote but that form with info about my birth dayte and other info bothers me. The warning about it becoming a public record is equally troubling.
Since there is now a record of every Republican who voted in the primary I can assure you that the lists are now being made so that you will be targeted in the next election. You should feel special--those who chose not to vote will be ignored and have no influence in the political process
ReplyDeleteI am a little confused about the purpose of this declaration of party to receive a ballot. In previous primary elections for partisan races you picked the ballot you wished to vote as a subset of the one you were issued. If you voted more than one party your partisan votes were invalid. Seems fair and reasonable so why the change. Your party preferences were secret like your vote. I think a dunce (spelled MR STUPID) hat should be required wearing for the instigator of this change. Our pathetic voter turnout for so many uncontested general election races in this primary makes this a first order travesty and Mr. STUPIDS idea for this change certainly didn't help.
ReplyDeleteYou just wait - the politicos will sell that information. Information is knowledge, and knowledge is POWER!
ReplyDeleteI get a little uneasy when I hear political groups talking about cleansing their organization, and other "purity" issues. I go back to some of my history courses in college and I remember a certain political group that evolved in Germany in the late 1920's and came to fruition in the 1930's. Ain't getting me to sign no papers.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if I will have to wear my brown shirt to the next election. The Repubs in Idaho are a troubling lot with all this purity talk.
ReplyDeleteI saw this guy Grover Norquist on the tube in a piece about the "Pledge" and how he has all the trappings of an aparachick in people swearing fealty to this issue of no new taxes of any kind.
Republican have all the appearnaces of putting party before country and I view that as a problem until the apathy crowd wake up to what is going on around them.
I will be voting for an independent canidate where possible the Idaho Republican party has gone too far with the closed primary.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it with GOP bosses’ and Labor Union bosses reasons for the hatred of the secret ballot? Is the Big GOP so afraid of a fair vote by secret ballot that it must do an end-run around the citizens of Idaho by making them register there affiliation? Why has the GOP war against the secret ballot been fought at this state level?
ReplyDeleteCould it be because local National Labor Union members have selected in the GOP primary process GOP candidates Hanson(COMMISSIONER) and Donahue(SHERIFF) who are either members, received contributions, and accepted endorsements from these National Labor Unions?
It’s easy to see why the GOP and Union bosses want to coerce citizens into the GOP political party and Unions. This election has shown that the GOP and Union membership is declining, and independents and many GOP citizens have said no to the Big GOP Party and Union Labor by staying away. Forcing more citizens to join the GOP Party and Labor Unions simply isn’t good –
Right now the unions are the entities are fighting for the middle class people in this country. Hey, if the unions go down, and the middle class go down, the USA will go down right along with them. If that happens the vulture capitalists, and other predator entities within the big banks will have acheived their goal. I still think that their are still factions in both of the major political parties that don't want to see this happen. The closed primary in Idaho is a bad idea, because Idaho is predominantly GOP. The Obama team needs to go in and bust up the big banks and find out what is going on. Sometimes I wonder if the enemy to our country has infiltrated itself into the big banks of this country.
DeleteYou know, the Repubs are in trouble, they are dealing with this crazy birther issue, congressmen that are calling the POTUS non-American, right-wing militia groups that are calling for open revolt if Obama is elected for a second term, and then there is this crazy sheriff in Arizona, and a Mitt-wit. The closed primary in Idaho is an example of what has trickled down. The Repubs are in a lot of denial, and they have a lot of issues that they need to face up to.
ReplyDelete