Essay On Closed Primaries

Elections in the United States come in two parts the Primaries and the general election.

Local districts within states are responsible for holding the Primaries which decide who runs in the general for a specific party. In Open Primary voters can choose to vote for any candidate of any party they choose whether there is an affiliation between the voter and the party or not. In a closed primary Voters must register with a party to be able to vote in that party's specific primary. The state of Pennsylvania currently holds closed primaries, despite the fact that the closed primary system shuts out independent voters.

One argument those who are against open primary use is “crossover voting.” Which is the situation of a voter participating in more than one party’s primary. Or, an attempt by someone in one political party to vote for the weaker nominee of another party to sway the election in their party’s favor. Nevertheless, there is a third type — Semi-Closed Primaries (aka, Hybrid Primaries) — Where unaffiliated voters can choose a party to vote in, while those registered with a party can vote with that party only. Conversely, this type of primary can serve as a central and a supple solution between closed and open primaries.

Closed Primaries take away the rights of people not

When the question of crossover voting occurs it can be easily refuted with the idea that the parties can share computer data on who voted already and who didn’t. Open primaries do allow nominations that are inconsistent with part views. For example, West Virginia has a semi-closed primary which allowed Democrat Joe Manchin to have views that do not match with the democrat party’s current ideals. That could be a pro instead of a con because Manchin is able to be true to his personal values and his communities values without favoring party