Eric Herr: Proposed change to NH Primary Election system would count all votes

To The Daily Sun,

On Sept. 10, registered voters will go to the polls to vote in the New Hampshire State Primary, continuing an election process initiated in 1916. That was a significant improvement because, for the first time, primaries directly engaged citizens in the nomination process rather than nomination by the few. But is today’s New Hampshire Primary Election process consistent with essential, underlying principles of our democracy?

Consider just such two principles:

1. Every vote must count. Today, primary voters must choose either a Republican or Democratic ballot. The vote cast by any voter choosing to write in a candidate from the other party is not included in the total vote tally for that candidate. More generally, the votes for any write-in candidate on both the Republican and Democratic ballots are not totaled, so voter preferences are not accurately reflected in the total final vote count. Simply put, today every primary vote does not count.

2. Election processes and institutions should be neutral with respect to all political parties and independent candidates. Yet the first thing registered voters do when entering the polls is to choose to cast either a Republican or Democratic ballot, even though more New Hampshire voters are registered independent than Republican or Democrat. Filing requirements for independent candidates are more demanding than those for party-aligned candidates. Is it any wonder that so few independents win elections?

So my answer is “no”. Today’s New Hampshire primary process is inconsistent with essential, underlying principles of democracy. More importantly, a diverse, broadly representative group of New Hampshire voters reached the same conclusion after participating in a transparent process designed to address the polarization and effectiveness of our political institutions. New Hampshire Together, a project of the people, hosted a series of listening sessions around the state to foster dialogues and, if possible, to reach a consensus on critical issues and solutions. That effort coalesced in a Citizens Assembly in late June, producing four initiatives, among them a proposal to adopt a nonpartisan, single-ballot State Primary Election process. In this process, primary voters would not choose between a Republican or Democratic ballot but a ballot with all candidates listed. Just as today, they would cast the prescribed number of votes for each office, typically a single vote. All votes would be counted, ensuring the voter preferences would be fully reflected in the final vote tally. The process would be neutral concerning all political parties and independent candidates. Rules would have to be established to determine how many candidates to go through to the General Election.

This would have the added benefit of simplifying election processes. The process would be easier for voters and for election administration. It would streamline voter registration since voters would no longer have to register as Republican, Democrat, or independent. Governments would no longer be burdened with collecting and maintaining information on party affiliation.

All votes must count. Elections must be neutral with respect to all parties and independent candidates. That will require change in New Hampshire’s Primary Election institutions.

Eric Herr

Hill