May 24, 2015 3 min read

For a democracy to function, citizens must be active participants.

Unfortunately, turnout for last Tuesday’s primary election was underwhelming in Washington and Greene counties, meaning only a fraction of the population made decisions about a number of critical local and county races.

Washington County produced a meager turnout of just 23 percent for party-affiliated voters while Greene County fared only slightly better with a little more than 38 percent showing up to cast their ballots.

But rather than once again blaming the citizens for another paltry showing on Election Day, it’s time to point the finger at a primary system that discourages turnout by barring independents and produces too few competitive races on the ballot for those who do vote.

In many school board and magisterial district judge races, candidates cross-filed and won nominations for both Democratic and Republican ballots, rendering the election practically over months before the general election in November. In other cases, including four of the five school board races in Greene County, there was no competition at all, with the number of candidates equaling the number of seats up for grabs.

Even when there is competition, such as the race for Washington mayor between incumbent Brenda Davis and political newcomer Scott Putnam, the decision was already made before independents can voice their opinions in November. Putnam won the Democratic nomination and also mounted a successful write-in bid on the Republican ticket. So much for democracy being open to all citizens.

Maybe Pennsylvania should create a primary system that encourages – or how about allows? – independents to participate. Independents, who make up 11 percent of the electorate in Washington County and nearly 9 percent in Greene, not being allowed to participate in the primary seriously hinders the ability for a large swath of the population to make decisions about their leaders.

Partisans will inevitably argue primary elections are for their respective parties to choose candidates and that party crashers aren’t welcome. Pick a side or don’t pick a candidate. In theory, that makes sense. In practice, however, the state’s primary election chooses winners and losers well before the entire electorate can make a collective decision.

Do district attorneys, county judges and district magistrates really need to align themselves with one party or the other? Shouldn’t these, once again in theory, be nonpartisan roles, with the entire population having the right to choose the candidates?

We have a few solutions that we hope would fix our disenfranchised electorate, although we’re not holding our breath. First, end cross-filing for judicial and school board races. If a candidate wishes to mount a write-in campaign, then we wish the best of luck to them. Council and township supervisors are not permitted to cross-file, allowing for more competitive races in the fall.

Also – and we think the most importantly – allow independents to make a choice on Election Day for which party ballot they would like to select a candidate. The partisan structure is understandable, but not sustainable for local races.

Finally, it is overdue for Pennsylvania to allow early voting. If people still don’t participate in elections with the added choice and convenience, then we’ll be more than happy to cast the blame on the voter who refuses to cast his or her ballot.