I’m not one for closing the primary to ‘party only’; that, IMHO, disenfranchises many to vote for whom they think would represent them best....regardless of party.
A simple(r) ‘fix’ to these type of shenanigans: hold the elections for all parties on the same day (make them make some possibly HARD choices)
Quit forcing the taxpayers to pay for political parties to choose their candidates.
In other words, junk the extra-constitutional political party and primary system entirely.
Allow only write-ins in a general election.
That’s where my thinking has gone.
This was a special run-off election. The only people voting in it should have been GOPers, and the state at least should not let members of the opposite party vote in run-offs of the other party.
That said, I don’t see how closing primaries to “party only” disenfranchises anybody. Presumably, everybody has a candidate in their own party who they think would best represent their interests, and it’s up to them to choose that person in their own party’s primary, not to go mucking up the primary of the other party.
They’re perfectly free to vote for whomever they want when the general election rolls around, but they really should work on getting good representation from their own party in the primaries.