Why We Need to End Party Switching in Primaries
The issue with party switching in primaries, and why we should end it
The Wyoming primaries take place today. The Republican race is between incumbent Liz Cheney and challenger Harriet Hageman. According to the Casper Star Tribune “Natural resources attorney Harriet Hageman leads Cheney 52% to 30%,”1. It is broadly assumed nationwide that Cheney will lose her primary. This has led to Cheney to become desperate to try and win her race, by encouraging Democrats to switch parties to vote for her in the primary.
In a June New York Times article, it was reported that Cheney “is urging Democrats in her home state to switch parties to support her in the Aug. 16 primary.”2. This involved Wyoming Democrats receiving mail encouraging to switch political parties, and how to do so. In Wyoming, voters allowed to register and switch parties on Election Day at the polling place. Hageman’s campaign used this news to take a shot at Cheney, saying “"When Liz Cheney’s only hope is to appeal to Democrats to raid a Republican primary, you know she has gone all the way over to Nancy Pelosi’s side,"“ to Wyoming Public Media3.
To be frank, it is quite detrimental to a democracy for Cheney to call for this, and for this type of process to exist in the first place. Primaries are supposed to be for members of both parties to decide which candidate best represents the best option for the general election. Republicans and Democrats meddling in the others primaries on this level disrupts that process. We will never have full isolation between the two primaries (especially in ad campaigns), but openly encouraging Democrats to vote in a Republican primary for a candidate that is more friendly to the Democrats than perhaps Republicans in Wyoming would like goes against any semblance of a partisan process to decide who best represents a political party.
If Cheney somehow manages to win the primary because of these Democratic votes, it sets a dangerous precedent to the entire point of political parties in the first place. It could set a precedent that allows for the opposing political party to impact elections in ways we have ever seen. 193,559 Wyomingians voted for Trump in 2020, 73,491 votes for Biden4. There is no argument that Wyoming is not a state dominated by the Republican Party. But if Democrats can vote for more liberal (or less conservative) Republicans in the Republican Primary in Wyoming, that type of sway only serves to hurt the people of Wyoming. The same can happen in largely Democratic states like New York or California. The same can happen in other Republican states like Texas.
It is time for states to universally ban party switching before a Primary. Each state can decide the severity of the ban, and how it is implemented, as is their right. Primaries should be voted in by only members of the party the primary is taking place in. If the other political party can start to sway the primaries of their opponents, it can only serve to drown out the voices of the majority.
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Eavis, Victoria. “The Poll Results Are In: Hageman Holds Commanding Lead over Cheney.” Casper Star-Tribune Online. Accessed August 16, 2022. https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/the-poll-results-are-in-hageman-holds-commanding-lead-over-cheney/article_1f33dfe0-02f1-11ed-8202-7befc0111031.html.
Epstein, Reid J. 2022. “Liz Cheney Encourages Wyoming Democrats to Change Parties to Vote for Her.” The New York Times, June 23, 2022, sec. U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/us/politics/liz-cheney-wyoming-democrats.html.
Blitzer, Ronn. 2022. “Liz Cheney Calls on Democratic Voters to Switch Parties, Give Her Boost in GOP Primary.” Fox News. August 16, 2022. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/liz-cheney-calls-democratic-voters-switch-parties-give-her-boost-gop-primary.
“2020 Presidential Election Results.” 2020. Www.cnn.com. 2020. https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/results/president.
Great article. It shows that politicians from all sides don't care about the people, just playing the numbers to get power. It is unfortunate. As responsible citizens of this great country, we need to educate ourselves.