Representative Ken Roberts, Majority Caucus chair of Donnelly, has submitted to committee a bill requiring that all primary elections be closed. Currently there is no party registration for voters. If you wish to vote in the Republican primary, all you have to do is request the Republican ballot. Ditto for the Democrat primary.

The result is that a large number of Democrats actually vote in Republican primaries because there are few if any races in which Democrat candidates have challenges. By influencing Republican primaries, Democrats can either eliminate the strongest candidates, thus easing the election for the Democrat, or they can eliminate the most conservative Republicans, thus achieving an outcome more to their liberal liking.

You don’t believe Dem’s would vote in a GOP primary? I have in my possession a copy of an actual letter written by a county Democrat chairman to her minions, thanking them for voting for the more liberal Republican in the primary. In this case, the true conservative was defeated.

If primaries are closed, voters will have to register their party affiliation and will be allowed to vote only in their party primary. Of course, Democrats can still register Republican, or vice versa (but why would Republicans want to do that?). A few interesting Democrat primaries will put a stop to that.