No Independents Need Apply

This coming Tuesday, May 22, will be Kentucky’s primary Election Day.  I’m rerunning a column I wrote for last year’s primary because independent voters are still suffering under what I call taxation without enfranchisement.

Way back when, lawmakers in Kentucky proposed to hold elections on even-numbered years only.  That way, the electorate wouldn’t tire themselves out by voting so often.

Well, not all odd-numbered years would be void of elections; just every other odd-numbered year.  Otherwise, the electorate might emulate Rodney Dangerfield’s dog:  It took him two years to teach his dog to sit and then the dog forgot how to stand.

Take away all the odd-year elections and the electorate might forget about Election Day altogether.  So in odd-numbered years, like 2011, we vote for state-wide offices; otherwise, no odd-year elections.

So how has that worked for us?  From here it doesn’t appear to have achieved its goal of getting more of the electorate out on Election Day.  Despite that one one-year break every four years, people are still staying away from the polls in droves.

It would seem our voters are like the ex-leper from Monty Python’s film “The Life of Brian”.  This leper was cleansed by Jesus, but then complained that since he could no longer beg for alms, he now had no trade, whereupon Jesus was said to have told him “There’s just no pleasing some people!”

Okay, so we know what is used to pave the road to h-e-double hockey sticks, don’t we?  Yep, good intentions.  What was forgotten in the rush to get more people out is why more people don’t vote in the opening act in our election years.  Part A is the primary election, where the successful candidate will represent one of the two major parties in the General Election.

But in Kentucky, you have to register as either a Democrat or a Republican.  No Independents need apply.  No, you cannot vote in a Primary Election.  Don’t forget to pay your taxes, though.  The Commonwealth of Kentucky will use part of that to pay the tab so the two major parties can set their slate for November.

That hardly seems fair, now does it?  The Commonwealth of Kentucky will use the Independent voters’ tax money but then disenfranchise them in half of the elections.  So how are Independent voters supposed to work up any enthusiasm for any candidates when they have no say as to who that candidate will be?  It’s like trying to work up fervor for a date whom you’ve never seen and about whom you know nothing.  That doesn’t always work so well, either.

I sometimes get the impression that neither the Democrats nor Republicans are all that anxious to see this scenario changed anytime soon.  Why would they?  They have it made in the shade. If only those who bother to register one way or the other can vote in the primaries, that’s that many fewer voters the candidates need to see to get elected.

Once again, I call on the Commonwealth of Kentucky to open its Primary Elections up to all voters.  The only info the Commonwealth needs is the voters address and precinct.  Those voters could then decide in which party’s primary they will vote when they cast their ballot in May.