Steven Harrell

Primary Woes

Aug 11, 2010 Updates

Primary Woes

The voter turnout in recent primary elections in Georgia was miserable, at less than 20% of the registered voters.  Some really qualified candidates got shut out of runoff elections because many of their supporters stayed home, or voted in the opposite party primary.  Max Wood, running for attorney general, and Terry Coleman, running for labor commissioner, are two of the candidates that got shut out of runoff elections.

Our primary system is a relic of the old white Democratic primary of over 100 years ago.  In 1917, the State of Georgia introduced the county unit system, which awarded statewide elections to a candidate that got a majority of county unit votes, as opposed to the popular vote.  It diluted the voting strength of city voters, and counties such as Fulton County.  The county unit system allowed candidates such as Gene Talmadge to be elected governor without winning the statewide popular vote.  This system was declared unconstitutional  by the U.S. Supreme Court 1963 in the case of Gray vs. Sanders.

That ruling held that the county unit system violated the 14^th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, because the system violated the principle of “one man, one vote.”.

We have a closed primary system in Georgia.  In order to vote in the primary, you must first declare a party affiliation.  You then declare a party affiliation, and then you are locked off on your ballot from voting for candidates affiliated with the other party.  That keeps many voters at home.  Who wants to venture out in 100 degree weather to vote on a ballot when you are offered a choice of a small slate of candidates?  This primary system is set up wrong, and it is broken.  Year after year, politicos and the printed news media blame Georgia voters for the low turnout in primary elections.  What you hear over and over again is voter apathy.  They are looking at a symptom of a problem, as opposed to understanding what the problem is, and fixing it.  The voters are not turning out to vote in primary elections because the current system locks them off from making a choice from the entire array of candidates available.   Instead of blaming voters for the low turnout, maybe the news media should blame the sorry system Georgia has in place for primary elections.

What can be done to make the system better?  Well first, the primaries should be moved to September, when the weather is cooler.  Secondly, Georgia should abolish its closed primary system, and allow voters to vote for any candidate in any party, no matter what.  We now have electronic voting machines in this state, and the machines can tally votes for each candidate regardless of party affiliation.  Our voting equipment is in the 21^st Century, and our primary system should be updated to match the equipment the voters are currently using.  These two changes alone will boost voter turnout.  If runoff elections are required, they should be held in October, just ahead of the general elections in November.

In addition, all local races for county offices, executive, legislative, and judicial, should be non-partisan.  There is no Democratic way to pave a street, and there is no Republican way to collect the trash.  Local races should never be decided on party affiliation, but on the personal ability of each candidate for local office. If local candidates were required to run on their qualifications and ability rather than their party affiliation, the election system would weed out the poor candidates up front.  Our General Assembly should pass the legislation needed to make these changes in our primary system.  The system is beyond broken, and it is in dire need of repair.  Will the General Assembly make these changes?  Probably not, because the political parties enjoy running the show, while their candidates only answer to a small number of registered voters.  Maybe it is also time to get some new blood with new ideas into the General Assembly, and fix many of the things that are wrong with our voting system.

Steven Harrell has practiced law in Perry, Georgia since 1989.

He is the author of The Unionist,  A Novel of the Civil War and The Rifle Captain, A Novel of World War I. Both are available at  Amazon.com, and Barnes&Noble.com. You may email him at sharrell@comsouth.net.