Off the Record
Republicans would be stupid to exclude unaffiliated voters
Are North Carolina Republicans really stupid enough to bar unaffiliated voters from GOP primaries?
(Here's Mark's story on the issue.)
They might be that dumb, but I think wiser heads will prevail.
Here's the math, courtesy of the State Board of Elections:
Registered voters who are Democrats: 2,764,947
Registered voters who are Republicans: 1,931,641
Registered voters who are unaffiliated: 1,379,834
To compete with Democrats, Republicans need to attract most of those unaffiliated voters to their candidates. They won't do it by telling them, "Sorry, you can't vote in our primaries because you're diluting our product."
The poor logic of the GOP purists' argument here is plain: They aren't going to field successful candidates in general elections if those candidates can't appeal to independent or moderate voters. So it helps them, not hurts them, to get input from those voters in their primary.
It sure doesn't help them to drive unaffiliated voters to the Democrats' primaries.
Yes, I understand doing so could mess with the Democrats. Maybe that's part of the scheme here. More independents voting in Democrats' primaries will alter outcomes there, probably to the detriment of liberal Dems. But wait a minute. That means Democratic primary winners would be more moderate or centrist, and thus more likely to win the general election.
Uh-oh, Republicans. You could make a very bad mistake here. Better wise up.
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