© 2002 Deseret News
Two-thirds of Utahns oppose the Utah Republican Party's decision to close the GOP primary Tuesday to only registered Republicans, a new Deseret News/KSL poll shows.
Even half of the Republicans surveyed by Dan Jones & Associates oppose the closing of their own party's primary.
But worse, Jones found that as some GOP leaders feared, a number of Utahns will be less likely to vote for Republican candidates in November's general election because GOP state delegates decided a year ago to close Tuesday's primary.
"I'm personally not a fan of a registered Republican-only primary," said Joe Cannon, state GOP chairman, after hearing the poll numbers. "But we're making the best of it."
Cannon said the state GOP is using its auto-dial system to telephone tens of thousands of voters in the 1st and 2nd congressional districts — both of which have GOP primaries Tuesday — asking them to vote in the Republican primary and briefly explaining the new voting system.
"We're encouraging people who voted in a past primary, where there were only Republicans on the ballot, no Democrats, to vote in Tuesday's Republican primary. We want all people to come out and vote," Cannon said.
Not since the late 1960s have Utahns seen participation in a primary election based on a voter's affiliation with a political party. Back then it was the Democratic-controlled Legislature that forced voter registration by party. The next election, voters responded by throwing out a number of Democratic legislators and Republicans took control of both the House and Senate.
Meg Holbrook, state Democratic Party chairwoman, believes the GOP closing its primary shows the "arrogance" of the majority party in Utah. "I think there may be a backlash" by voters against Republican candidates, Holbrook said.
In a new statewide survey, Jones found that 66 percent of Utahns oppose the GOP move to close its primary election to only registered Republicans. Only 24 percent of Utahns favor the move. The rest don't care or don't know, Jones found.
But looking at the demographic breakdown of the question is telling. Fifty-three percent of those who told Jones they are Republicans oppose the closed primary. And 81 percent of independent (so-called unaffiliated) voters oppose closed GOP primaries, Jones found.
While Utah is overwhelmingly Republican, in most races GOP candidates need some independent votes to get elected, especially if they have a well-financed, hard-working Democrat running against them.
Holbrook's belief of some kind of voter backlash on GOP candidates for their party's primary action was also detected in the Jones poll.
Fifty-one percent of independent voters said they are less likely to vote for a Republican candidate in November because of the June closed GOP primary. Only 10 percent of independent voters said they are more likely to vote Republican in November.
Even 25 percent of Republicans said they are less likely to vote for a GOP candidate in November because of their own party's action.
"To some, this (primary) may look exclusionary," Cannon said. "But it really isn't. After all, you wouldn't want the University of Utah picking the starting line-up for BYU in a game between the two teams." Likewise, Republicans should be picking Republican candidates, Cannon said.
Tooele County GOP chairman Mike Taylor was the state delegate who made the motion from the floor in the August 2001 state GOP convention that led to changing the party's constitution to demand a closed primary in 2002. Taylor says it will take some time for Utahns to get used to a closed primary system, but he says it is best for all concerned.
Interviewed this spring when some GOP leaders were talking about trying to open the 2002 GOP primary election, Taylor said he'd oppose that. "Give this some time" to work, he said.
The whole point of closing primary elections is to keep Democrats out of picking GOP candidates, Taylor argued.
But the trouble is, Utah doesn't have a history of either party registration or closed primary elections.
"Utahns don't like people telling them who they can vote for, which party they have to belong to to vote in a primary election," Holbrook said. The GOP delegates closing their primary "is a further attempt to alienate mainstream, moderate Utahns," she said. "It will especially alienate mainstream Republicans."
About 80 percent of Utahns are not registered members of any party. Officially, they are unaffiliated because they didn't check a party preference box on their voter registration forms. "Since 2000, we've seen many people register as Republicans," Cannon said. "Statewide, about 15 percent of voters are registered Republicans today."
Under state law, when a party first decides to close its primary, at the next election unaffiliated voters can, at the polls on Election Day, change their registration from unaffiliated to the party holding the closed primary. So Tuesday, any unaffiliated voter can publicly register to be a Republican at the polling place and pick up a GOP ballot.
Democrats didn't close their primary, and anyone, even a registered Republican, can vote in the Democratic primary. Democrats have a 1st District primary Tuesday. But anyone already registered in some party other than Republican can't get a GOP ballot Tuesday.
If you are an unaffiliated voter but register Tuesday as a Republican in order to vote in the GOP primary, you can quickly change your status back to unaffiliated if you wish, says Deputy Salt Lake County Clerk Nick Floros.
"The day after the primary vote," you can get a voter registration form from the White Pages telephone book, or online from your clerk's office, or at a post office or a Smith's grocery store, fill it out, check the unaffiliated box, sign it and mail it in, Floros said. So, you don't have to stay officially — and publicly — identified as a Republican if you don't want to.
Holbrook says the closed GOP primary will just drive down "the already abysmal" turnout at primary elections. The closed primary will likely draw the more right-wing, dedicated conservative voters to the polls, which in turn will result in more conservative GOP candidates being elected, she said.
"This will be terrible for democracy in this state, terrible for mainstream politics and mainstream candidates of any party," Holbrook said. "Redistricting (of legislative and U.S. House seats) has already confused and alienated some voters. The closed (GOP) primary will just make them angry and they won't vote at all."
Cannon says all that is unjustified doom and gloom. "Come November, I think most people will vote for the person they believe will do the best job, with whom they identify." June's closed GOP primary will be just a memory. "And people need to realize that just because they registered Republican and voted in the June primary in no way obligates them to vote for any candidate or any party in November. They are free to pick any candidate like always" in the general election, Cannon said.
E-MAIL: bbjr@desnews.com