Tag Archives: primary elections

Return of the Smoke-Filled Political Backrooms?

Political parties aren’t mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Political parties developed in the first years of the republic, however, and soon drove elections. Only recently have the party candidates been chosen largely by primary voting.

Traditionally, the choice of a party’s candidate wasn’t certain until the party convention itself. Deals were made in those smoke-filled back rooms. Not until after the 1960’s did the convention become a boring pep rally that merely rubber stamped primary elections.

The earlier method sounds undemocratic. However, some are calling for a return of true political conventions, where the delegates are not pledged to any candidate. Decisions are made at the convention.

A return to the earlier system means the political party leaders consider more than the wishes of their base voters. They take the longer view, considering how likely a candidate is to be chosen by the larger electorate. They search for a candidate who appeals to the independents and perhaps a few of the other party who might consider voting for an especially qualified candidate.

Listening to the anger-filled, even violent emotions of the current campaign, the return to those backrooms is appealing.

To Appreciate Our Right To Vote, Live In A Country That Doesn’t Have It

 

Less than half of eligible voters cast ballots in our state primary this year. What kept the voters away? A long ballot? Not enough time? On vacation? Thinking it didn’t matter?

Voting for me is automatic. So far as I know, my parents never campaigned for a candidate or contributed to a political party, but they voted in every election for which they were eligible. They volunteered as workers at my school, the neighborhood polling place, on voting day. We discussed candidates around the supper table, never with bitterness or hatred but with serious questions and opinions. Who was the best candidate? Why? What incumbents had done a good job and should be reelected or hadn’t and should be voted out of office? My dad, who never finished high school but loved history, provided background on the political development of our country.

Voting and taking an interest in elections seemed as natural as going to church. I’ve voted ever since I was eligible. Many of my votes were absentee because I worked and lived overseas, places like Saudi Arabia and North Africa. As a U.S. consular officer, I notarized ballots of many overseas Americans.

A local employee who worked for me in Saudi Arabia once asked if he could see my ballot that had just arrived. To him, unable to vote in free elections as I was, I suppose it seemed as priceless as a valuable manuscript. He treated it almost with reverence.

Perhaps that’s the reason I can’t understand why my fellow citizens don’t exercise this wonderful gift that allows them to elect their leaders. Perhaps they would if they’d lived in countries where the citizens have no elected leaders.