Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Sid Salter: Once More, Crossover Voting Remains "Functionally" Legal

One factor that surfaced in the hotly-contested Mississippi Republican primary election for lieutenant governor between incumbent GOP Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann of Vicksburg and challenger State Sen. Chris McDaniel of Jones County was Mississippi’s open primary laws that continue to allow so-called “crossover” voting.

After McDaniel lost the 2014 GOP second primary race to the late longtime Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, the challenger told all who would listen that Cochran’s victory stemmed from Democratic voters who had no intent on supporting the Republican nominee voting in the GOP second primary just to beat him.

McDaniel told CBS in 2014: “We have a statute, a law in our state that says you cannot participate in a primary unless you intend to support that primary winner in the general. [Democrats who voted for McDaniel] have no intention to do that, they’ll be voting for [Democratic nominee] Travis Childers in November. We know that, they know that, and so that makes their actions illegal.”

But outside of McDaniel’s political camp, that argument never got any real traction.

CBS reported: “Mississippi law allowed anyone who did not cast a Democratic ballot on June 3, 2014, to cast a Republican runoff ballot. McDaniel and his supporters previously cited a defunct Mississippi law - effectively invalidated by the courts - that requires primary voters to support a party’s nominee in November. That would bar Democrats from supporting Cochran, the McDaniel camp argued. Mississippi elections officials confirmed before polls opened that the law is functionally unenforceable.

Fast forward to Tuesday, August 8, 2023. There were open declarations by any number of proud Democrats on social media that they intended to vote in the GOP second primary simply because they legally could and that doing so functioned as a roadblock to McDaniel.

While considered an open primary state, Mississippi state law continues to allow limited “crossover” voting. Federal court rulings on Mississippi’s primary election laws are that crossover voting is allowed unless the voter “crossing over” makes a declaration to the poll workers of his intention not to support the nominee of the party primary in which he or she is voting.

In other words, how does a poll worker establish a voter's intent without the voter’s assent or cooperation? How does one legally compel voters to statements of intent? Therefore, it is a misnomer to claim that Mississippi has either an “open” or “closed” primary system. It doesn't. What we have is a mixed primary system under state law.

That’s what McDaniel and his supporters complained about in 2014 and again on Tuesday night – that Democrats could vote in the GOP primary in Mississippi and vice versa.

What Mississippi has is neither of those two systems. Mississippi voters do not have to register with a party, but the law requires they must intend to support the party nominee if they vote in that party’s primary election.

Voters are free to choose to vote in either Democratic or Republican primaries but can’t vote in both and can’t cross the party line in second primaries if they voted in the first primary.

But in practice, current state law puts poll workers in the improbable position of serving as mind readers at best and profilers at worst. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that crossover voting is allowed under Mississippi law and cannot be successfully challenged “unless the voter comes in and ‘openly declares that he or she does not intend to support the nominees of the party.’”

McDaniel is not the only candidate complaining. Fellow GOP challenger Michael Cassidy lost a tight 2022 GOP second primary race to incumbent U.S. Rep. Michael Guest. In defeat, Cassidy promptly accused Guest of “coordinating with Democrats to rig” the second primary.

But in that race, as in McDaniel’s lost campaigns, the Mississippi Legislature and the state’s electorate have yet to act to close the state’s very legal “crossover” voting pathways. Purity politics continues to be a political non-starter in Mississippi.

If there are supporters of closed Mississippi primaries down at the Capitol, they’ve either been very quiet or very ineffective in efforts to implement such laws.


Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com. 

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Done this myself.

Anonymous said...

Maybe it wasn't a good plan for McDaniel and his people to run around telling every Democrat who was listening that they should go vote for his opponent.

Anonymous said...

How many times since 2014 has McDaniel introduced bills to change this law?
Why is this only and issue when a candidate gets beat.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile McDaniel is back to posting every few hours on Facebook. Last night it was something about moderates being fat people. Apparently he does not know his target base. Guy is a loser(3x) and doesn't have a platform, just odd posts on FB. He is an arrogant narcissist and his lap dog eat it up.

Anonymous said...

If McDaniel is over 50 years old he was himself a born and bred Democrat, now he's a born and bred Republican like more than half the state. Then again, is he a Republican or something else? Let's move on.

Anonymous said...

you should be able to vote for whoever you want regardless of party any time the polls are open. the constitution didn't limit us to party affiliation. And you should be required to show an ID and vote on a paper ballot. No more machines

Anonymous said...

He is an arrogant narcissist ...

But he eats your lunch.

Anonymous said...

I saw that, 9:53. Someone tell McDaniel that it helps to be likeable (or, at bottom, not repugnant) to win an election. He seems to have missed that memo.

Anonymous said...

If we are going to have an election we should let any registered voter vote. With our elections as crooked as they are the less rules we have the better it is. Voter turnout isn't that great in the first place.
Maybe we should worry a little more about trying to keep our elections a little more honest instead of making more rules that no one is going to follow anyway.
A few years ago didn't our military help keep elections more honest in other countries? I seem to remember them making voters stick their thumb in red paint to keep them from voting many times. Maybe we should try that.

Anonymous said...

Silently moving away from politicians like McDaniel

Anonymous said...

Mississippi's white RINOs appealing to their fellow black Democrats to save them at the ballot box is nothing new. Perpetuating our state's status quo of distress is what keeps both factions conveniently in power. The proof is in their collective pudding of stagnancy and dysfunction.

Delbert Hosemann is nothing but a gatekeeper there to stop any bold thinking that might undermine the power of Mississippi's old white moneyed order as well as that of the black politicos who use racial animus and primary vote trading to feather their own nests.

Anonymous said...

Notion that voter turnout is a magic elixir is foolish folly.

Anonymous said...

On the other hand, if you have the right to vote FOR anyone, that implies the right to vote AGAINST anyone. So you cross over to the ballot where the guy is that you're voting against.

Anonymous said...

"He is an arrogant narcissist ...

But he eats your lunch."

Looks to me that the only thing he eats is shit when trying to get elected. Three time loser. Enough, already. No one wants in your shitty disco, McDaniel.

Anonymous said...

McDaniel was only repulsive to midwit sheeple who have been conditioned to be repulsed by anything that causes the slightest cognitive dissonance that government and corporatism are good!

Anonymous said...

@11:01 Hey Chris, how you holding up buddy?

Anonymous said...

NO American should have to walk in "goose step" with a poltical party!
We were all better off when political parties were small and had little money! AND our vote is supposed to be nobody's business but our own!

Anonymous said...

This law was repealed in 2017 (maybe 2016, memory is foggy).

Anonymous said...

11:51 NOOOOOOO, I don't disagree that some things need to change, and Delbert isn't the end all be all, BUT(Big Butt because McD likes to talk about fat people apparently) he is not the one. Someone with some tact, touch of class maybe, one that doesn't talk shit about any and everyone who doesn't agree lockstep with what he says. Thats the guy. You talk about sheeple, have you seen some of his supporters? Absolute lunatics that would lay down their lives for the Pine Belt Pimp. All they care about is who can out MAGA their opponent. Thats it. Never once in hearing McDaniel speak, did he ever lay out a plan for what he plans to do. All he did was tell everyone he is more conservative, and Delbert is a moderate Democrat. I personally don't really care for Delbert, but I despise Chris McDaniel. I feel a majority of the state feels the same.

Anonymous said...

How about we do like we did in the last presidential election and let the news media pick our president? Seems to be working out great.

Anonymous said...

It was bluish/purple ink, not red paint. And the US military had NO role in that ID process.

Good Lord, how do you lettuce heads come up with such nonsense?

Anonymous said...

Capt Mediocrity reports in @ 2:07. Why be great when slightly less than average is apparently good enough!

Anonymous said...

Hehehe, Yes we did Chris.

But you lost by so much, even the spoiler candidate didn't matter.

Time to go back in your hole for a while.

Anonymous said...

Appointing all those Democrats to powerful committee chairmanships really paid off for Dilbert.

Anonymous said...

Sad truth about Chris, and I hope he reads this.

He had the talent. Oratory skills. He had the capacity to understand complicated legislation. He could take on David Baria and any other Democrat that could debate. He could have been a rockstar. He could have stood out.

But he was difficult for Republican leadership. I'm not saying he should have stayed in his lane. He needed to be a team player. And he didn't work. That's right. He didn't come to work and he never became an expert on anything. He just opined about founding fathers and used patriotic buzzwords.

Had Chris not been arrogant, done the work, and been a team player, he would be a United States Senator.

Instead, he is a three time loser.

Anonymous said...

I wish Mississippi had open primary elections where you would be free to vote for both republicans, democrats and independents on the primary ballot. If needed, they could them choose the democrat leader to face off the republican leader in the general election. They could also include the independent leader if applicable. I think the way the primaries are set up now allows democrats and republicans a list of people to go after for donations. I guess that means they will never walk away from their money cows to open primaries.

Of course, I am also one of those people who think we should be allowed to amend the law by voter petition, with no input from the legislature if the petition has reasonably sufficient signatures.

Anonymous said...

Everybody gets one vote. You can use it to play offense or to play defense. I think all states should do that.

Anonymous said...

One thing, however, is certain: the RINO simply hates — literally hates — McDaniel. It is a distinguishing mark of the breed. Had McDaniel bested Hosemann, RINOs would have gleefully voted for any Democrat on the ballot. McDaniel is to RINOs as Trump is to Democrats.

Anonymous said...

I wish Mississippi had a real Dr. Ron Paul or Dr. Rand Paul. Not a discount store knock-off. As other have said, McDaniel had the rhetoric down-pat. But he rarely showed up to do the job he was elected to do. Rand Paul on the other hand, is a true warrior for liberty. Perhaps I should just relocate to Kentucky? Getting out of this backward ghetto state is the popular thing to do these days!

Anonymous said...

... if the petition has reasonably sufficient signatures.

Who decides reasonable sufficiency? You?

Anonymous said...

I know liberal blacks who vote in GOP primaries for the more moderate candidate because they believe this is the only way they can impact Mississippi elections. These liberal blacks in combination with wealthy elitist whites, who are numerous in Madison County and the Reservoir area in Rankin County, is how big spenders and neocons like the late Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker keep getting elected, why we couldn't get rid of warmonger Michael Guest last year, and why we don't elect anyone like Rand Paul, Matt Gaetz, etc. I didn't bother voting in the primary this year because I learned my lesson in the Guest primary last year.

Anonymous said...

Voting for Delbert was a vote for the status quo. No complaining about being the last in this that or the other, you are part of the problem.


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