I’m one of those voters who tore up my ballot rather than pick a party.

Here are my reasons:

1. If picking a candidate for each party is something the parties want to keep to party membership, then the parties involved should sponsor their own caucases or conventions and do so at their expense. Using public funds to do your job for you is taxpayer abuse and forcing me to pick a party is an invasion of my privacy.

2. I am not a single party member. In the last three elections, I have voted an almost 50/50 ticket, with some “third party” candidates thrown in.

So how do I determine if I’m Republican or Democrat? How do I get designated an “independent thinker” rather than being pidgeon-holed?

3. Why would parties who claim they only want “real” party members to do the choosing want my opinion? I don’t claim either of them. Sadly, as a taxpayer, I am thus paying for their attempt to round up their true believers opinions.

I will continue to tear up my ballots as long as this system exists. The elitists who want to force me to be one or the other, because it keeps them from really doing their job, will just have to do without my input.

If the two major parties continue to press the issue, it may be that this voter (who up to now has missed few elections) will be out of the system entirely.

Maybe if there’s no participation in this taxpayer scam, the two parties will just go away.

Or maybe they’ll start doing their job without forcing the taxpayer to foot the bill.

Denise Foster

Snohomish