Voting in primaries, and runoffs, a duty for all who care about state

WHEN a reader told me on primary day that as a one-time Democratic candidate she didn’t “dare try to vote in the Republican primary against Karen Floyd,” I donned my civics teacher hat and reminded her that the primaries are run by the state, not the parties, and every registered voter has the right to vote in whichever primary he or she chooses.

What surprised me wasn’t that she wrote back an hour later saying she had voted. What surprised me was how surprised she was by the experience of voting for the person she wanted to be education superintendent:

“I looked right at my Republican neighbors who were poll workers and asked to vote Republican. They didn't challenge me — even though the local Republican Party had recently asked for a list of all attendees at the Democratic precinct organization meetings earlier this year.”

In a moment, I realized that I should have found time to write my “the primaries belong to everyone” column.

But we still have two statewide races and several local and legislative races to decide in Tuesday’s runoffs, so I figure, better late than never. Voting in Republican contests is open to anyone who didn’t vote in the Democratic primaries, and vice versa, so even if you sat out last week, you can still have some say in your government.

This is how naive I am: I had no idea that people were actually afraid to vote in whatever primary they wanted to.

Yes, I understood that some people are so partisan that they believe it is none of their business which candidates win the other party’s primaries.

And I understood that some independents don’t want to publicly identify themselves with either party, or believe — often erroneously — that the real decisions are made in November.

But there’s a huge difference between preferring not to participate in a primary and fearing that poll workers will harass you if you show up and ask to vote.

As much as some party officials might consider that a grand idea, we haven’t allowed it in South Carolina at least since the state started running the primaries, more than a decade ago. Lawmakers decided to have the state run — and the taxpayers pay for — primary elections out of concerns about corruption and a desire to shed the racist origins of party-run primaries. But their decision also acknowledged the fact that primary elections are an important part of government.

More often than not, the general election is pro forma, with no opposition, or only token opposition, or an electorate that’s so one-sided that the opposition doesn’t have a prayer simply because of party label. That means if you want to have any say about who represents you, you have to vote in the primary.

That might not be the case in this year’s statewide contests, although that’s yet to be seen. But consider the local picture:

• Fourteen House races were decided on Tuesday, because no one filed to run against the primary winners in November. Among the candidates who will be twiddling their thumbs as they wait to be sworn in are Richland Rep. Joe Neal, Lexington Rep. Kenny Bingham and Chris Hart, who unseated Richland Rep. Joe Brown. Thirty-four of the 124 House seats will be contested in November, although many will be contests in name only.

• In Richland County, primary voters picked a new auditor and decided (or will decide next week) three County Council races. Of the county candidates on the primary ballot, only County Council member Kit Smith faces opposition in November, and most observers give her Republican opponent less of a chance of knocking her off than her primary opponent had.

• Two Lexington County Council seats are being decided in the primary. Only one seat will be up for grabs in November.

That pattern repeats itself across the state. Yet just 16 percent of the state’s registered voters voted last week. That means that, on average, 4 percent of the registered voters determined the winner in the many races that aren’t contested in November.

Of course the numbers vary by district and party. Since two-thirds of all voters picked the Republican primary, 6.6 percent of the state’s registered voters put Gov. Mark Sanford’s name on the November ballot.

Even with all the extra Republican voters, the “party only” mentality allowed just 5 percent of the state’s registered voters to decide that this year’s race for education superintendent will be a referendum on vouchers and private school tax credits.

I would never encourage voters to sabotage the other party’s primary by voting for the candidate they consider least attractive. Besides the practical fact that this could backfire and the unattractive candidate could end up in office, this is gross abuse of the sacred privilege of the vote.

But people who honestly care about their government and want to put the best possible people in office have not only the right but the obligation to participate in the primaries.

If you failed to do your duty as a citizen last week, a tiny handful of us in South Carolina have already made a lot of important decisions for you. But there are still a few more decisions for you to help us make on Tuesday. Don’t blow it this time.

Ms. Scoppe can be reached at cscoppe@thestate.com or at (803) 771-8571.