Opinion, please: scrap party primaries

In an op-ed for The New York Times, former Oregon secretary of state Phil Keisling says we should scrap the party primary system and replace it with a “fully open/top two” primary. The goal: reducing partisanship.

All candidates would run in a first round, “qualifying” election, with the top two finalists earning the chance to compete head-to-head in November. Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, Tea-Partiers, even “None of the Above’s” could all run in the first round. Voters would certainly know candidates’ party affiliations, but no political party would automatically be entitled to a spot on the November ballot.

[…]

Gone would be the ideological purity tests of primaries, which more and more punish the Republican concerned with global warming or the Democrat wrestling with eye-popping budget deficits. Candidates wouldn’t have to practice the dark arts of the “message zigzag,” securing the base then feinting to the center. A system without partisan primaries would reward candidates who work, from Day 1, to appeal openly and forthrightly to the broadest group of voters.

On the surface, this sounds like a pretty good idea – especially the part about appealing to the broadest group of voters. I’ve watched Scott Rigell, one of the Republican candidates in the 2nd Congressional District, move far right as he attempts to capture the votes of the primary voters. Glenn Nye, the current 2nd CD representative, faces no primary opposition and has used this opportunity to try to appeal to everyone.

On the other hand, I don’t know that having a runoff would really accomplish much. Keisling concedes that the two winners are likely to be a Democrat and a Republican. That being the case, the candidates would still need to appeal to the base of each party in an attempt to turn them out to vote in the primary. Given that we don’t register by party in Virginia, we always have the opportunity for independents to vote in primaries, anyway.

So my question is: should we scrap party primaries?