PAID POLITICAL COMMENTARY - Stay with the open primaries we have

Published Oct. 3, 2024

I am responding to the Guest Columnists, Marc Racicot and Bob Brown, in last week’s article “Free and Open Primaries”.

Mr. Racicot and Mr. Brown wrote at length about political parties “dominating and destroying democracy” plus other statements which seemed to me are about instilling fear in Montana voters. They stated later in the article that by choosing CI-126 and 127 “independent-minded Montanans would have the freedom to choose among all of the candidates.”

The purpose of primary elections is not for voters to choose among all the candidates, but for voters to choose which candidate will represent their party in an upcoming general election. In Montana, a voter can participate in the political party primary of his or her choice, meaning that Montana's primaries are open. We already have free and open primaries! In fact, in Montana, a voter of any political affiliation may vote in the primary of any party. For example, a voter registered as a Democrat can choose to vote in the Republican primary or a Republican vote in an Independent Primary, etc.

Mr. Racicot and Mr. Brown are also trying to instill fear in voters by stating that “Alarmingly, in the last five Montana primary elections, an average of only forty-four percent of the registered voters voted”. That is an amazing statistic for Montana because usually only about twenty percent of registered voters vote in primaries. Way to go Montana voters!

CI-126 and CI-127 would change our current open and fair primaries to rank-choice voting (CI-126) plus make it a majority win (CI-127) based on a very complex method of voting instead of our current plurality voting which is when a primary election winner is the most popular choice as decided by voters. This system makes elections over reliant on technology, reduces transparency and accountability plus could be easily manipulated by others gaming the system and lead to election fraud. In other state and local elections, this complex voting method has resulted in voter confusion, discarded ballots, widespread voting errors, delayed election results due to multiple rounds of counting, etc. Alaska voted in rank-choice voting in 2020 and a statewide repeal effort is currently underway after only one statewide election using it in 2022.

A simple online search of this rank-choice method of voting is highly encouraged prior to the November 5th general election plus a thorough understanding of CI-126 and I-127. Your vote deserved to be counted and your voice deserves to be heard.

Kind Regards,

Rhonda Syson

Havre Independent Voter

This is a paid political commentary.