“The Free Men Who Cannot Vote”
In our United States there are primary elections. There is nothing sanctioning these in the constitution. However there are certain rights in the constitution that these elections counteract. In Pennsylvania there is a closed primary, meaning that one can only vote in their own party’s primary election (Too Busy). However, in my opinion, the closed primary is unconstitutional, and instead an open primary should be established in Pennsylvania. An open primary is one in which you pick a party to vote for on that day, and then you pick a candidate from that party.
In an open primary, independents have the right to vote. To vote is to have power and say in government. How can we ignore these citizens and their rights? To have a closed primary is to tear up the constitution. This is simple. These are the rights our forefathers fought and died for. To ignore this truth is insanity. Many states have open primaries, such as California (Primaries).
Now one of the main arguments against open primaries is the idea of party switching. This is when say a Republican would choose to vote in the primary for Democrats, and try to choose the weaker candidate. In doing this, the weaker candidate would ultimately lose in the general election. This argument is invalid. With the current closed primary system, switching parties is very easy. All one must do is fill out a registration card and mail it in. If one were to take the time and vote for the weaker candidate in an open election, surely he or she could put a stamp on an envelope.
The United States is a two party system; however, third parties are taken into account. By having an open primary, the candidates would have no choice but to try and appeal to the third party voters in their campaign. This would give these politically active people more of a say in the government. These people have been put down for too long. It is about time they have a choice in selecting the president. For instance Obama is trying to recruit third party members to vote for him (Brown).
To not allow American citizens the right to vote is a clear violation of the constitution. This is a total disregard to millions of peoples rights as US citizens. It is not the American way to disregard peoples rights. Our forefather would never want a closed primary, so why should we keep it that way?

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