Closed Primaries: Is a Law Change Necessary?

The Republican State Convention met on Saturday June 8^th and adopted a rule to close the Republican Party Primary. The rule applies only to the Republican primary election and obviously has nothing to do with the general election. Under the rule, a voter would need to declare that the voter is Republican before voting in the Republican primary. During the first election cycle a voter would be allowed to make that declaration on the day of voting.

Will a change in Arkansas law be necessary before the Republican Party can close its primary? No. Arkansas law leaves it up to the political parties to decide the issue. Arkansas Code § 7-7-307 (a) says: “Each political party may establish by party rules additional qualifications to those established by § 7-5-201 for eligibility to vote in primary elections of the party.”

(NOTE: The reference to § 7-5-201 deals with the basic qualifications of voters. This just means the qualifications set by the party are in addition to the basic qualifications of voters.)

Arkansas Code § 7-3-101 (a)(2) repeats the same authority saying a political party shall “Prescribe the qualifications for voting in their party primaries”.

In 2023, Attorney General Tim Griffin was asked whether in a closed primary there would need to be legislation to provide for party registration through the County Clerk’s Office. Attorney General Griffin said legislation is not needed because voters can already choose party affiliation on voter registration forms. In other words, there is already a means for declaring party affiliation. (See Attorney General Opinion No. 2023-030.)

Although no legislation is needed to set a closed Republican primary in motion, there is still the possibility some state legislator, who thinks he or she needs crossover Democrat votes to beat other Republican candidates, might file legislation claiming to be “clarifying the law” when in actuality the purpose is to add provisions to derail or delay a closed Republican primary.

How did closed primaries become an issue in the Republican Party of Arkansas? An open primary allows Democrats to crossover and vote in the Republican primary to influence what kind of candidate the Republicans elect. Crossovers may have not been a big deal when about as many Democrats were getting elected as Republicans. But Republicans are not just the majority party now, Arkansas voters have made the Republican Party dominate Arkansas. Both of Arkansas’s U.S. Senators and all four of our U.S Representatives are Republicans. All seven of our state constitutional officers, from Governor on down, are Republicans. An overwhelming majority of our State Senators and State Representatives are Republicans. The trend also applies to County elections and in other partisan elections.

Democrat crossover votes became a huge topic in the 2022 Republican Primary when Democrats openly urged fellow Democrats to crossover and vote in the Republican Primary to support wishy-washy candidates, who aren’t as conservative as other candidates, or to try to help elect a candidate they think they have a better chance of beating.

In 2022, Democrats and Democrat money also hid behind a group called Common Ground to try to elect weaker Republicans.

Democrat interference in Republican primaries isn’t limited to just Arkansas. Consider these items from 2022. In Arizona, the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee poured in money to a Republican congressional race to support the Republican candidate who Democrats thought they had a better chance to beat in the general election.[i] Democrats spent millions of dollars in other states to influence who won in Republican primaries, as well. Fox News reported Democrats spent more than $40 million in six Republican primaries for congressional seats; and the strategy paid off as the Democrats got the opponents they wanted in the general election.[ii] Democrats in other states crossed over and voted in Republican primaries. “Reports from Georgia and Colorado suggest that an increasing number of strongly partisan and highly strategic voters are using open primary systems to attempt to sabotage a particularly distasteful opponent. Political scientists call this ‘strategic crossover voting.’” – Washington Post[iii]

Yes, Democrats have used “strategic crossover voting” to sabotage Republican Primaries.

Can the Republican Party implement a closed primary without major problems? Yes. First, the next Republican Primary is not until 2026. Second, there will be a Republican committee to work on the transition and to report back to the party. Third, it is not a new or novel idea. There are other states where one or both parties hold closed primaries.

[i] https://www.deseret.com/2022/8/10/23300551/did-democrat-money-sabotage-the-republican-primaries

[ii] https://www.foxnews.com/politics/clean-sweep-democrats-cash-in-boosting-pro-trump-candidates-republican-primaries

[iii] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/16/democrats-republicans-primaries-georgia-colorado-voting/