Free and open primaries

“Ye Party Zealots, thus it fares with you,

When Party Rage too warmly you pursue;

Both Sides club Nonsense and impetuous Pride,

And Folly joins whom Sentiments divide.”

~ Benjamin Franklin

The danger of powerful political parties being obsessed with dominating and destroying democracy was also echoed by our greatest founder George Washington when in his farewell address he cautioned that “In contemplating the causes which may disturb our union,” he particularly identified the “spirit of party,” which he warned would ultimately lead to “permanent despotism” and thus destruction of government of, by, and for the people.

In our lengthening lives experiencing and observing democracy, we are increasingly concerned about the controlling role of political parties over government of the people. Clearly, the founders were concerned about the role of political parties and chose to give them no role in the foundational documents.

In justifying their existence, political parties have alleged that they represent different public policy alternatives which in turn provide their fellow citizens important public policy choices. Issues change with the times, but throughout our history, the American South has remained conservative. The North is still home to the progressives.

And, uniquely, Montanans have subscribed to a form of independent populism. Montanans continue to value freedom and independence over the narrow and dominating demands of political parties.

In our judgment, the power structures of political parties, over time and history, have unquestionably become more exclusive and self-serving. Instead of acting as marketplaces of ideas, where proposals focused on the public good are debated and distilled into beneficial policy proposals, the political parties of today, just as President Washington predicted they would, have abandoned a transcendent dedication to the public good in exchange for the relentless pursuit of power.

Alarmingly, in the last five Montana primary elections, an average of only forty-four percent of the registered voters voted. Plainly and sadly, with our presently existing closed primary elections, only four registered voters out of every ten are presently deciding who the candidates in the general election will be. It appears, based on the evidence, rather than encouraging the engagement of more of our citizens in democracy, just the opposite is the result in our current primary system

We have the opportunity in November to break free of the controlling influence of political parties, and to modify our system making it closer to the vision of the founders. Constitutional Amendment 126 would remove the control of political parties over primary elections. All voters would have the unrestricted freedom to choose among all candidates in the June primary election. No longer would our forced choice be only between Democrats or only between Republicans. We independent-minded Montanans would have the freedom to choose among all of the candidates. That right is secured with the passage of CI-126.

A limit of the top four candidates for each office in the open primary would then move on to the general election in the fall. Companion ballot measure CI-127 tasks the next legislative session to determine a system of ranked choice voting as is used in Alaska, or some variation of a run-off election, for determining the final winners.

If approved by the people this fall, CI-126 and 127 will go into effect for the elections of 2026 and would give voters back their independent voice to determine who can best represent them.

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Marc Racicot is a former Montana governor and attorney general.

Bob Brown is a former Montana secretary of state and state Senate president.