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Primary Voters must vow they are Democrats
Party hopes to deter Republicans from voting by requiring oath in Tuesday’s S.C. primary
By JENNIFER TALHELM
Staff Writer
Voters in Tuesday’s presidential primary must declare they are Democrats or they cannot vote.
That has observers predicting that some people will stay away, rather than committing to the Democratic Party — even for a day.
Voters who appear at their polling places will be asked to sign an oath swearing that “I consider myself to be a Democrat” before casting their ballots.
If they don’t sign, they can’t vote.
Democrats say they don’t want to keep independents away, but they do hope to deter Republicans from voting in the primary and interfering with the results.
The pledge is legal because the Democratic Party — not the state Election Commission — runs and pays for the presidential primary, said Donna Royson, deputy executive director of the Election Commission. South Carolina requires only that voters declare they have participated in just one party’s primary.
Democrats said the national party has required the pledge since 1984 in South Carolina and other states that don’t require voters to register by party.
“We want everybody to come vote as long as it’s done in good faith,” said Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chairman. “I don’t think many Republicans will come. If they want to come and consider themselves a Democrat for the day, they’re welcome.”
But observers say the party might hurt itself because some independent voters will balk at being told to declare a party.
Although Republicans hold most state and federal offices in South Carolina, analysts say neither party dominates and as many as 20 percent of the state’s residents consider themselves independents.
“They’ll either see it in the paper and stay away, or there will be some arguments at the polls,” predicted Neal Thigpen, a political scientist at Francis Marion University, who has been involved in Republican politics in the past. “Overall, it will decrease participation.”
Republicans didn’t require a similar pledge in their last presidential primary in 2000, said Charlie Terreni, a Republican and a lawyer who has represented the state GOP.
Terreni isn’t concerned about Republicans being shut out of the Democratic primary. But he wondered why Democrats would want to limit the number of voters when the point of a primary is to reach out to new members.
“It’s politically unwise,” he said. “If they want to restrict themselves to identified Democrats, they’ll be the permanent minority party.”
Thigpen added that the reason S.C. Democrats pushed for an early primary was to give a voice to independents and moderate Southern Democrats.
“This would seem to me to run counter to that objective,” he said.
Brad Gomez, a USC political scientist, argues encouraging independents to vote in the primary increases the likelihood of selecting a candidate who can win in November.
Party primaries tend to favor more extreme candidates, he said, but centrist candidates have the edge in general elections.
It’s especially important for the Democratic Party, which is losing white, male voters to the Republicans over social issues, he said.
“You want to have these open competitions because it brings others into your fold,” Gomez said.
Democrats say they don’t think the pledge will be a problem.
“This Democratic pledge shouldn’t be a deterrent for any voter who wishes to participate in the primary,” said Nu Wexler, the state party’s executive director.
U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has the most to lose if independents or Republicans decide not to vote.
Edwards’ favorable ratings are more than 70 percent among independents and 60 percent among Republicans, according to the most recent Zogby poll.
His state director, John Moylan, is not worried.
“We have to recognize that the purpose of having a primary is for people who believe in the party and want to nominate the best candidate,” he said. “We will win this election under the current rules.”
Margaret Sorrenti of Lexington County, who identifies herself as a Republican, said she is intimidated by the pledge because she doesn’t like being pushed to promise something she doesn’t believe.
But she still plans to vote — because she believes more strongly that the national front-runner, U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, would be bad for the country. To make her point, Sorrenti said she will vote for U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the most conservative Democrat in the race.
“I just don’t want to see Kerry win,” she said. “We’ve had Clinton-itis far too long, and we don’t want to repeat that.”