We as voters and as Democrats who reside in Northern Virginia demand an Open Primary to decide our party’s nominee to challenge Jay O’Brien in 2007!This petition does not support one candidate over the other, just an open primary over any other form of nomination. This will only be used as a show of the community’s support at the Legislative District Committee meeting.
Thanks!
Remember: Primaries are held during the week when many, often the less affluent, find it hard to get to the polls. Open caucuses are held on weekends when more people have the day off.
Primaries are held at every polling place, requiring major commitments of volunteer time to cover the polls if the polls are to be covered. It will be nearly impossible to cover all the polling places for each candidate, let alone for Party volunteers.
By concentrating the caucus at a few centralized locations, both the candidates and the Party will be able to have representatives at the polling place to meet new participants. That is a perfect time to recruit new volunteers for campaigns and new volunteers for the party.
By holding a caucus, the nominee will be selected 3 or 4 weeks earlier than by primary. That is 3 or 4 weeks more to raise campaign funds, sign up volunteers, etc.
So again I ask, why do you say an open process means a primary? If the caucus is open to all, won't that be an open process too?
Except, it disenfranchises every observant Jew. That might not matter in a small town at the Southwest border of our state. But in Northern Virginia, where there is a sizable Jewish population, including Orthodox Jews, it keeps citizens from participating in the process.
Orthodox, Conservative, and other observant Jews won't drive or participate in any other non-religious activities during their Sabbath. They also won't go to sports events, etc.
I know that the Sunday Sabbath is not as restrictive for even observant Christians. After church, they do, in fact, go shopping, participate in sports, etc. Yet, if I were to suggest holding a caucus on Sunday, I'm sure that would offend a sizable number of Christians. And I wouldn't want to offend or disenfranchise them either.
I think a primary on a Tuesday is fine. In a primary, like other elections, it doesn't take long to go to the poll. And if you can't make it, you can at least vote early or get an absentee ballot.
Having said all that, I'm also not comfortable with an open primary. I think that only Democrats should vote in a Democratic primary and only Republicans should vote in a Republican primary. After all, you are voting for your party's standard bearer.
If you are an independent or a member of the opposite party, you should not vote in the other party's primary. So, I would ultimately like to see state registration and a closed primary as some other states do.
But until that time, I would rather see an open primary than people disenfranchised in a Saturday caucus.