When I walk into our local elementary school to vote Tuesday, I’ll once again pick up a ballot to vote in the Republican primary.
Under Georgia’s open primary system, it’s perfectly legal — even for a liberal like myself — to take that step. But it’s more than merely legal. It is an appropriate, patriotic and at times even necessary use of the voting franchise. And if the practice outrages conservatives who see the GOP as their own private club, tough. I make no apologies.
Four years ago, I voted in the Republican primary to help make sure that the ethically challenged John Oxendine didn’t win his party’s nomination for governor. Two years ago, if I recall correctly, I voted for Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primary because he was the only GOP candidate who seemed even plausible as our president. This year, I voted in the May Republican primary to cast a ballot against the ultra-conservative Paul Broun in the U.S. Senate race, and because the outcome of the GOP school superintendent primary was important.
And I’m far from alone. This year, Mississippi’s Republican primary for the U.S. Senate was decided by “outsiders” when incumbent Thad Cochran invited Democrats, independents and moderates to cross over and take part in the GOP primary. He reminded those voters that in a strongly Republican state like Mississippi, whoever wins the GOP nomination is almost certain to win the general election as well. The only real chance they had of helping to choose their next U.S. senator was to cross over and vote Republican. They did so, and as a result, they will have a somewhat more moderate, mainstream politician representing them in the U.S. Senate.
A similar situation is now playing out in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, where Jody Hice and Mike Collins are in a runoff for the Republican nomination to replace Broun. Mailers have gone out to Democrats in the district, urging them to vote in the GOP runoff as a way of preventing victory by Hice, an ultra-conservative who could make Broun look almost reasonable by comparison.
I don’t live in the 10th, but if I did, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up a Republican ballot and vote against Hice.
Take a look at the numbers: In the 2012 presidential race, Romney carried Georgia by less than eight percentage points, but in the gerrymandered, heavily Republican 10th District, he won by 26 points. Just as in Mississippi, winning the GOP primary in the 10th District pretty much guarantees you victory in November. If voters want to have an effective voice in the person who represents them, they have very little choice but to make that voice heard now, in the primary.
Not surprisingly, the practice has renewed calls by some Republicans to move toward closed primaries, in which Democrats, independents and moderates would be precluded from participating, or even to selecting candidates at party conventions. If you believe that what the modern Republican Party needs is an even more cult-like insularity, closed off to moderating influences and unwelcoming to those not fully committed to the cause, then yes, that’s what they should do.
Until then, I’ll continue to make the decision about where my vote can be most influential.
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