Closed Primaries Research Paper

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Maira Gonzalez POL 1 Dr. B 09-27-15 Which is more democratic, open or closed primaries? Before citizens vote for runners in a state or national election, there is typically a primary election that decides which candidates will make it to the last round. State rules fluctuate when it comes to who can vote in these primaries, whether they are open, closed or a mixture. The purpose of a primary election is to allow a political party to choose its candidate. When it comes to an open primary, you let people who are not members of the party vote in the primary. This alters the will of the party members and allows all sorts of crazies and frauds to influence the party's choice. Moreover, when it comes to a closed primary, you should be registered as a member of a particular political party so that you could to vote for contenders in that party during the primary election. When considering being registered as a Democrat, for…show more content…
“The democratic process is not the democratic process when the vote is tampered with”(Liberal America). A way to twist the process is through closed election primaries that permit participants to field an radical candidate, restrict competition in the field, and hope for the best in general elections. Having a closed primary is a way for an extreme party base to ensure it gets a candidate to election. Overall, if there are limits to your voting process, than it’s undemocratic. For example, Bernie Sanders is limited to changing his status from “independent” to democratic because Vermont is open primary state and doesn't have a party registration system. For this it is possible that he looses the state of New Hampshire. Once Sanders goes to the New Hampshire secretary of state’s office to file for participation in the Democratic primary, it is fairly possible that someone will test his deposition of candidacy (Washington

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