If you go to a Republican or Democratic caucus Saturday, you’ll sign an oath that you won’t participate in the nominating process of another political party.
Then, if you vote in the presidential primary, you’ll sign another oath.
My question is, what if a voter lies? Is there any way to disqualify the Republican-primary ballot of someone who had participated in a Democratic caucus?
The only answer seems to be a belief that most voters are honest and will live up to their oaths. So we’re voting on the honor system.
Yes, there will be lists of who voted in which primary or caucus. The political parties will get the lists and be able to tell who cheats.
That will be after the fact, however. There seems to be no way to disqualify the ballot of that voter who went to a Democratic caucus but marked a Republican ballot.
The ballot-sorting process seems to preclude that.
Elections officials will sort ballots into Republican, Democrat and ballots without a party selection. Those without a party selection will count only for local ballot measures. Officials will count Republican and Democratic ballots only if the voter has marked that party’s oath. There seems to be no mechanism for checking ballots against caucus lists.
Then, can a voter get into trouble after the election if he or she goes to a Democratic caucus and votes a Republican ballot? There’s no penalty-of-perjury clause in the oath. Is there anything the parties can do to a voter who violates the oath? I want someone to try it and let me know.
Losing the Democratic legacy
Washington’s Democrats are betraying their legacy.
The Democrats have always stood for broadening the pool of voters. Now, Washington Democrats are narrowing the pool of people who choose their candidate for president.
The state’s Democrats have decided that all of their delegates to the national convention will come from tomorrow’s caucuses rather than the Feb. 19 primary, an event that would draw many more people than the caucuses.
I went to a caucus four years ago. Thirteen people came from my precinct, a precinct that, in most elections, draws 10 times that many voters, about two-thirds of whom usually vote for Democrats.
This is the party that began with the presidency of Andrew Jackson, when frontiersmen and non-landowners began to vote. It replaced the presidential nominating caucuses in Congress with conventions representing all parts of the nation.
In the 1960s, the party protected the voting rights of blacks by sponsoring the Voting Rights Act and the Anti-Poll-Tax Amendment.
Now, it’s the party that seeks to limit the number of people who participate in its nominating process. It uses a caucus system that disenfranchises those who can’t attend a caucus because of work, travel or other commitments.
President Jackson must be rolling over in his grave.
Evan Smith is Enterprise Forum editor. Send comments to him at entopinion@heraldnet.com
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