People who prefer not to align themselves with any political
party lose out on the opportunity to help narrow the field of
candidates in annual primaries. The state Independence Party would
like to change that.
Party Chairman Frank McKay said the party voted overwhelmingly to
throw open its primaries to the almost 2.5 million registered but
independent voters in New York. The move is not meant to get more
people to join the Independence Party, but to provide them a place
to go on primary day, he said. (He does admit that the move would
help generate interest in his party.)
Though the state Board of Elections says state law requires
voters to be members of a political party to vote in a primary,
McKay cites a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in which Connecticut's
Republican Party was allowed to open its primary to non-enrolled
voters. He said moving the proposal ahead will be a tough fight --
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has already spoken against it --
McKay said he's willing to take it to a federal court.
McKay should pursue this fight. Why should the 2.5 million
registered but non-aligned voters be denied a right to have their
say in primaries? Several other states are already doing this. It
would at least give them the opportunity to play a part early on in
the election process.
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