A resident of Gamwyn Park walked into Buster Brown on Tuesday to cast a ballot in the primary.
He walked to the same table he has at previous elections, showed his identification and asked which ballot had local elections on it.
He wanted to vote in local elections and thus went to the table marked for the Democrat primaries knowing the only local contested elections were for Democrats.
He also wanted to vote in the Republican primary for the statewide elections, but in Mississippi, that’s not allowed. No poll worker was able to explain to him why. He ditched the Democrat ballot and picked the Republican ballot.
Another voter walked into the St. James Episcopal Church polling place to find two tables. One clearly marked as the Republican primary and the other clearly marked as the Democrat primary.
She walked straight to the Democrat table to begin the voting process.
She, a white woman, was given puzzled looks and was questioned as to why she was voting in the Democrat primary.
“That’s cause for alarm,” said University of Mississippi political science professor Dr. Marvin King. “That’s something the Secretary of State should be looking into.”
King teaches Southern politics at Ole Miss and focuses on Federalism and African-American politics.
“Voter intimidation doesn’t have to be overt,” he said. “But these things are almost always a lack of training. Most of the volunteers are older and they don’t necessarily care what the law is.”
Mississippi is a semi-open primary state, but once the primary ballot is chosen, the voter can only vote in that party’s primary.
In Washington County, during this year’s primary election, there were no contested Republican primaries for any local positions.
That means anyone who chose a Republican ballot was locked out of the political process for any of these positions for which there is not an Independent candidate to be faced in the general election on Nov. 5. There’s only one Republican candidate on the local ballot and nine independents. The Republican primary ballot did include all statewide elections.
The Republican and Independent candidates will create contested races for District 1 Supervisor, District 2 Supervisor, District 4 Supervisor, District 5 Supervisor, Sheriff and County Coroner. Nine local races were decided in the primary. Four of those races — County Attorney, District 3 Supervisor, District 1 Justice Court Judge and District 3 Justice Court Judge — were contested in the primary while the others were uncontested.
Prior to the 1960s, and the voting rights act, the political primaries were seen as a private party operation to limit the electorate — to exclude poor whites and blacks, King said.
Local registrars had too much power over what ballots people chose, King said. “Back in the 1960s, these things bothered the federal government.”
A court case in 1944, Smith vs. Allwright, overturned Texas policy that allowed the local Democrat party to hold a whites-only primary. The local party averred the primary was a private endeavor, but the court found the party was acting on behalf of the government by choosing a person who would be running the state.
“The winner would control the levers of the state,” King said. “You can’t be a private actor doing that.”
There are a multitude of different types of primary systems in the United States:
n Closed primaries only allows voters who are registered as a member of a particular party to participate in that party’s primary. Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Wyoming have closed primaries;
n Semi-closed primaries, as in closed primaries, registered party members can vote only in their own party’s primary. Semi-closed systems, however, allow unaffiliated voters to participate as well. Depending on the state, independents either make their choice of party primary privately, inside the voting booth, or publicly, by registering with any party on Election Day. 13 states — Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, and West Virginia — have semi-closed primaries that allow voters to register or change party preference on election day;
n Open primaries allow a registered voter to vote in any party primary regardless of his own party affiliation. Eleven states — Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin — have open primaries. When voters do not register with a party before the primary, it is called a pick-a-party primary because the voter can select which party’s primary he or she wishes to vote in on election day;
n Semi-open primaries allow a registered voter need to not publicly declare which political party’s primary that they will vote in before entering the voting booth. When voters identify themselves to the election officials, they must request a party’s specific ballot. Only one ballot is cast by each voter. In many states with semi-open primaries, election officials or poll workers from their respective parties record each voter’s choice of party and provide access to this information. The primary difference between a semi-open and open primary system is the use of a party-specific ballot. In a semi-open primary, a public declaration in front of the election judges is made and a party-specific ballot given to the voter to cast. Certain states that use the open-primary format may print a single ballot and the voter must choose on the ballot itself which political party’s candidates they will select for a contested office;
n Blanket primary does not restrict candidates from one party to a particular ballot; and
n A nonpartisan blanket primary is an election in which the ballot is not restricted to candidates from one party, where the top two candidates advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. Louisiana has famously operated under this system, which has been nicknamed the “jungle primary.” California has used a nonpartisan blanket primary since 2012 after passing, and the state of Washington has used a nonpartisan blanket primary since 2008.
The type of primary used in each state is a choice of the state legislature.
“In places like the Delta, race and political party are almost synonymous,” King said. “Ninety percent of black voters are Democrats and 70-80 percent of white voters are Republicans.”
“When the primary election makes you chose a party, it becomes the de facto general election in many cases,” King said. “If there is no other party candidate, you are almost shut out of the political process.
“It doesn’t have to be that way though,” King said. “State legislatures could design a ballot to open up the local elections.”
King described a ballot which would allow, for instance, a Republican voter to cast votes for the state-wide Republican candidates, contested local Republican races and any local races in the Democrat primary where the primary would decide the office holder.
“It’s difficult to change these things when the members of the parties (in the legislature) are the only ones who can change that,” King said.
Party labels have become increasingly important as the political system seems to be more polarized.
“In the 1970s until the 1990s, there were a lot of people who would vote a split ticket, but that era is gone,” King said. “People use the party label as a shortcut.”
States don’t have to use party labels in local elections.
“It’s purely a function of the state legislature,” King said. “Maybe the party affiliation creates a bench for people to run for higher-up positions. It’s about raising money and being in the system.”
The next local election in Washington County is set for Nov. 5. There will be six contested elections. Only two of which are county-wide decisions.
