Open primaries: Partisanship run amok

The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 4/9/7

Mississippi law authorizes “open” primaries – meaning that state voters don’t register by party. Without party registration, enforcing “closed” primaries becomes difficult if not impossible.

A federal lawsuit has been filed in Greenville with U.S. District Judge W. Allen Pepper presiding that seeks to change that status. The case is set for trial on June 30.

Democrats interested in the future of open primaries in Mississippi are watching the outcome of a Virginia case now on appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in which Virginia Republicans objected to that state’s open primaries.