Primaries are confusing, but still critical
It’s officially September, but are we forgetting that it’s local primary election season? Few of us participate in our municipal elections, including the general election this coming November. But even fewer of us know about our primary process, so we hardly participate in that election for local offices, which is Tuesday, Sept. 14. Why? Well, for starters, you have to be affiliated with a political party in Connecticut — because we are in a closed primary state. This means that you have to declare your affiliation before the primary election. If we were an open primary state, you could vote no matter what your party.
Your party loyalty matters to the candidates but also to party leaders. As both a politics researcher and a former New Haven Republican Party chairman, I recognize the importance of party affiliation. Primaries are, after all, when party voters make known which candidate they support, and it especially matters if there are multiple candidates on a party ticket.
But in Connecticut, the bulk of voters (41 percent) are either not registered with a political party or they are registered as “unaffiliated.” Many media outlets and some party leaders suggest that Connecticut voters are in a “blue state,” but this is actually a “leaning” Democratic state because many voters are not affiliated with a political party, though they tend to vote for Democratic candidates in November’s general election.
Interestingly, one does not have to be registered in either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party to participate in a primary election, even though Connecticut Republicans make up 20 percent and Democrats are 38 percent of the electorate. There are other party choices, especially for state and local offices. In some locales, there are Green, Socialist, Libertarian and Working Family Party options. There’s even an Independent Party, not to be confused with being an independent, as some unaffiliated voters tend to misregister. But third parties make up 2 percent to 3 percent of Connecticut’s voters.
What matters is that your party affiliation can make a difference for primary elections. All voters, even party-affiliated ones, have the option to ticketsplit, or choose a candidate in another party in the general November election. But primaries are critical because there’s often many candidates and a few votes can make the biggest difference in choosing a political party candidate. This is especially
Being affiliated with a political party and voting in a primary means you help choose which candidate gets to the general election.
important in a one-party-dominant municipality because the primary election is essentially the election to vote for the presumed winner before November’s general election.
Consider, for example Bridgeport and New Haven, where the majority of voters are overwhelmingly Democratic and the primary election is when local legislative and mayoral candidates are decided.
Yet turnout remains lower in primary elections than in general elections. Often, for local races, only 15 percent to 25 percent participate in primary elections and 20 percent to 25 percent in general elections in urban areas and 10 percent to 20 percent more in suburban and rural areas. Presidential races bring out larger voter numbers, usually 55 percent to 68 percent, partly because of the assumption that federal offices matter most and because media outlets focus more on national politics.
But local politics have the most impact at the community level. Being affiliated with a political party and voting in a primary means you help choose which candidate gets to the general election.
So, consider joining a political party — and don’t forget that primary elections for local offices are Tuesday, Sept. 14.