Once again Democrats have blocked a bill that would allow voter registration by political parties for primary elections in Virginia. That bill would have blocked Democrats from voting in Republican primaries and vice versa. The political parties would have made the decision if they wanted their primaries open or closed.
Bill to allow registration by party affiliation defeated, again
written by Jeanine Martin
February 6, 2024
4 comments
Jeanine Martin
Also known as Lovettsville Lady, I am a Republican activist in the wilds of western Loudoun County.
4 comments
Good luck 🙂
I, for one, am sad about this. In the past I worked hard to allow the Republican party to require primary voters to be Republicans, and to allow Democrats to require the same if they desired. The political party is not a government organization but a free association of like-minded citizens who determine what rules will be in effect to chose candidates for office. The Party rules carry the imprint of the will of that association and also the principles and positions that the Party has endorsed. All too often candidates who do not agree with the Party rank and file win primary’s by getting Democratic votes to cross over to a Republican primary, and win in a multi-candidate primary. In my longstanding opinion that corrupts the Party and drives workers away from the Party when they realize their hard work was wasted, or when they see a person elected to office – a far too frequent occurrence – who does not and will not support the Republican agenda.
That’s all fine and good provided that neither the state government runs nor the taxpayers are forced to pay for the primary. Get the state government out of the primary and then you can close it to whomever you wish.
The defeat of this bill is excellent news for those of us who support liberty and limited government. The government should not keep tabs on our political affiliations nor should they be allowed to bar those of us who pay for the primaries from participating in them. We should be working to eliminate taxpayer-funded, government-run primaries as that should not be a function of government but rather be done by the political parties themselves.