Independents should be able to vote in primary
It bothers me that Maryland has closed party primaries, but will let an independent candidate like Sen. Bernie Sanders run as a Democrat in Maryland even though he is not officially registered as a Democrat in his home state of Vermont.
While independent voters are shut out of Maryland’s primary elections under the speculation they could adversely affect the outcomes for registered Democrat and Republican candidates, a candidate posing as a Democrat to run in Maryland’s Democratic Primary can take votes away from actual registered Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, and others.
Had other states with closed political party primaries required Sanders to be a bona fide regis- tered Democrat within his home state, and not a faux Democrat just to win votes, outcomes might have been different for those choosing to vote for actual Democrats.
Maryland will be creating a hypocritical situation if it allows registered independent Sen. Bernie Sanders to run as a Democrat just because he registered as one in the state of Maryland even though he is not a registered Democrat in any state, while denying independent voters the right to show up at the polls to pose as either Republicans or Democrats to cast votes while not being registered as either.
Why should an independent like Sanders be allowed to get away with manipulating the outcomes of Maryland’s closed state prima- ries while independent voters are denied the same kind of input?
Just because Sanders caucused with the Democrats in Congress, does he feel they owe him the right to run as a Democrat under false pretenses and divert votes from others?
Does Maryland even vet out-ofstate political candidates running for president to ensure their integrity meets Maryland’s election requirements, or is it permissible for a registered independent in another state with a bona fide residence in that state to run as a Democrat in Maryland while denying independent voters the chance to do likewise to cast votes as posers too? How about some equal voting rights?
Mary R. Adler, Waldorf