Republican Representative Mike Smith needs Independents and even some Democrats to win his House seat in the General Election, and with his party continuining down the path to Trumpian Fascism, he will likely need Independents and even some Democrats to vote in his primary election if he ever got challenged by some North Delaware version of Kari Lake. Wait, where does Christine O’Donnell live now?
Anyway, that is why he is sponsoring House Bill 43, which allows Delaware voters who are not affiliated with a political party to vote in a political party’s primary election. Currently there are approximately 170,000 registered Delaware voters who are not affiliated with a political party. Members of a political party are not allowed to crossover and vote in another political party’s primary election.
Here is my thing: if you want to vote in a party’s primary, then you have to be registered as a member of that party. It’s not hard. There are no dues, no tests, no waiting periods. You can easily change your party registration online in a matter of minutes, and Ta-Da! you get to vote in that party’s primary. If you can’t do that bare minimum, or you want to hold onto your cherished and self righteous Independent voter status, then sorry, you don’t get to vote in a party primary.
All Democratic Representatives, as well as Republican Representatives who care about such things, should vote no on this bill. I am disappointed to see Sophie Phillips on this bill. Sean Matthews is becoming less and less a disappointment and more and more an expected obstacle, which is what Bill Bush is now.
| House Bill 43 – Allowing Independent Voters to Vote in Party Primaries | Currrent Status – House Administration 1/5/23 |
| House Sponsors – Smith, Ramone / Bush, Matthews, Phillips | Senate Sponsors – |
| House Yes Votes – | Senate Yes Votes – |
| House No Votes – | Senate No Votes – |
| House Absents or Not Voting – | Senate Absent or Not Voting – |
Wtf is Sophie doing? For someone who loves to tout on social media how “progressive” she is….I say she’s off to a bad start
Untying primaries from parties needs to be accompanied by the implementation of Ranked Choice Voting. RCV is a much better path to more inclusiveness in campaigning by candidates and engages voters in a much stronger choice strategy. If there is no RCV, making primaries open doesn’t make any sense.