Washington – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) authored the following op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman arguing that closing the Texas Republican primary would be a mistake for the party and our nation's democratic republic and could risk silencing the voices of those who are disillusioned with the current government:
Texas is among a majority of states with open primaries where any eligible registered voter can vote in the primary election, regardless of their party affiliation.
Nevertheless, there has been a recent movement among some Texas Republicans to close our Republican primary to only those who register as a Republican. At best, this would be a mistake that has the potential to harm our party in the long run as we hamper our appeal by narrowing our coalition of voters. At worst, it would limit our voters' ability to have their voices heard in primary elections and undermine the American system of self-government.
The right to vote is essential to our democratic republic: voting is one of the most fundamental ways ordinary citizens participate, and the mechanism by which the people consent to be governed. When Texans fail to exercise this right, as a large majority have done by not turning out to vote in this past spring's elections, they are giving up the opportunity to have their voices heard and to influence the direction our state and country take. They are ceding to others to decide who should govern. For the party to close the primary, we would exacerbate an already worrying trend.
When fewer people participate in our elections, our very system of self-government is undermined. If only 7% of registered voters choose our nation's leaders, as was the case in Texas' recent U.S. Senate run-off election, our government becomes less like a democratic republic and more like an oligarchy, where the leaders are chosen by a select few. As our country continues to see increasingly low trust in government and low participation in elections, closing the primary elections would be a grave mistake, furthering these existing problems.
By closing the primary, we risk taking away the voices of those who are disillusioned with the current government. With 93% of registered voters sitting on the sidelines, we find ourselves in a vicious cycle. Low voter participation means that those nominated represent the views of the few. Then those who are not represented feel neglected and don't feel the need to turn out and vote in the general election, because they don't like the options on the table. Closing our primaries would take this trend a step further by actively cutting more Texans out of the electoral process.
The right to vote is one that our heroic fallen have literally bled and died to secure for us, but it is not one that Americans have always universally enjoyed. It was first available to only white male property owners, but slowly but surely expanded. In the 1800s, most states eliminated property requirements. In 1920, the franchise was extended to women by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, then to Native Americans with the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924. In 1964, artificial barriers like poll taxes were banned. Our nation had to endure a Civil War to guarantee equal rights to all citizens, including African Americans, culminating in the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. But we didn't stop there: the 26th Amendment in 1971 lowered the voting age to 18 years. Now, many in the United States take this foundational right for granted.
If we want to restore trust in the government, the answer is more participation from voters, not less. While closing the primary may seem like an easy and painless way to score political points with the most vocal in our party, it could result in costly legal battles only to ultimately be thrown out in the courts. Political parties are coalitions of people with different interests who come together over shared common goals to create a governing majority. They become stronger when more people participate. Our state is blessed with a wide diversity of people, with views that do not square neatly into a cookie-cutter mold. If we limit primaries to only those whose views are in lockstep with the party line, we will only diminish voter turnout and harm the Republican party's ability to bring people into our tent.
While some contend that closing the primaries will ensure there is no foul play occurring from the other side of the aisle, that is a solution in search of a problem. There is no data to back up the idea that Democrats are voting in Republican primaries or runoffs in a meaningful way, but there is also little logic in that argument. Data does show that registered Democrats want to vote in their own primaries and are not willing to give that up in order to meddle in ours, and I'd argue that committed Republicans feel similarly.
For the parties to accurately reflect the views of the nearly 32 million people who call the Lone Star State home, we ought to give them as many choices as possible in elections, including primaries. The Republican Party can and must be a wide-tent party if it is to continue growing and last for generations. But closing the primary will be futile to that end.
Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, is a member of the Senate Finance, Judiciary, Intelligence, Foreign Relations, and Budget Committees.
