True Open Primary (and I didn't even have to vote for the budget)

SB 469 - True Open Primary

I was pleasantly suprised to have support from the vast majority of the Senate today to bring SB 469, which had been tabled in Committee, to the Senate Floor for a vote. This bill would present a ballot question to the voters of Montana allowing them to implement a truely open primary, more commonly known as a blanket primary. I regularly hear from constituents and voters across the state that they are very annoyed by having to choose to vote either a Republican or Democrat ticket in the primary. This would create a single ballot on which all candidates appear and voters could vote for any candidate from any Party in the primary. The candidate of each party with the greatest number of votes would then advance to the general election as they do now.

Montana does not register voters by Party...period. And each attempt, each session is soundly rejected. Montanans are fiercely independent and the vast majority do not want to be labeled by Party. The same holds true for voting patterns. Montanans are notorious ticket splitters and everyone I discuss the issue with staunchly defends the practice of voting the person, not the Party.

I hope the bill advances to the voters as I'm confident it will pass and the voters will wrest control of Primary elections from the hands of the Partys and the special interests that now exert undue influence on the process. The people deserve the right to support the candidate of their choice.