Primary elections play a significant role in shaping how ballots will look in general elections, so to improve turnout, it’s important that voters understand the consequences of ignoring them.
American elections have always been a highly charged and questionable (but unavoidable) topic and sector. Unfortunately, it’s an industry that few understand, and while chasing partisan narratives, the most important aspects go ignored. What’s worse is that this is by design. Politicians and parties know that the average American works 34.4 hours-per-week, and because of time, roughly 68 percent of the voting aged population gets its news from television. This makes it easier to transmit messaging via television, which can quickly sway and reaffirm beliefs at a relatively low cost to parties, politicians, and/or their surrogates.
The low-hanging PR is important because despite a global pandemic and several economic crises, the 2020 election became the most expensive on record at a cost of $14.4 billion. This was more than twice the cost of the highly contentious 2016 election cycle. What this has told strategists is that no crisis will ever go to waste when it comes to politics, and that the people will spend their last dollar if it means protecting “the threats to democracy.” That phrase is often misused to sell a narrative, so to clarify, a republic is when citizens are protected by a constitution, which can’t be taken away by the government. In fact, the Founders intentionally made it near impossible to amend the Constitution to prevent opportunism or corruption. This is why “inalienable rights” is often stressed by constitutional purists, because it’s text taken directly from the Bill of Rights. In its most simplistic form, a democracy is “a government by the people, for the people.” The people elect representatives to essentially act in their best interests in the creation of, and passing legislation.
To break the numbers down, this body of federally elected politicians is called Congress, and it’s made up of 100 Senators and 435 members in the House of Representatives. Considering there are roughly 335 million citizens in the United States, you can make the determination whether you think there’s equal and fair representation in D.C. or not.
For examples of the terms “democracy” and “republic” in action, Democrats say that Republicans who defend the alleged January 6th insurrection at the United States Capitol are defending “threats to democracy” because any attempt to overthrow a democratically elected politician is–quite literally–a threat to democracy. Now to “threats to the republic,” Democrats want gun reform that infringes on the rights of the second amendment (the right to bear arms), and Republicans are fighting back because any amendment to the constitution is a dangerous precedent. In fact, since the Constitution was adopted in 1788, there have only been 27 amendments ratified, 10 of which are the Bill of Rights.
Now that we’ve touched a few of the background topics that are important to understanding why elections matter, here are five reasons why primary elections are important:
- Every election people say “I didn’t have better choices” to defend who they voted for. This isn’t entirely the case. In a primary election, the voter has the entire pool of eligible candidates on the ballot to choose from. It’s the voters’ job to do background research on them, attend rallies and town halls, ask questions, etc. If you feel really drawn to a candidate after doing your research, you’ll be more inclined to start stumping for that candidate, and candidates rely on that for turnout. Taking this point a step further, when voters really feel a candidate is compelling, they’ll offer to host fundraisers for them, which are usually at the expense of the host. To be clear, you–quite literally–have many choices, it’s just up to you to show up.
- This brings us to the next point: fundraising. You could really like a candidate, but if you don’t donate to that person, the likelihood of their campaign staying afloat is pretty much nonexistent. We’ve seen campaigns survive and advance to victories on either shoestring budgets or with zero large donor contributions, so we know it’s possible. But that’s not the norm, and voters can’t get lost in the fantasy that small donations can win elections. And if you really dislike the incumbent, the primary is an excellent place to prove to your party that a candidate can fundraise. After all, it’s a skill they’ll need, regardless of which office they’re running for.
- Tactical or crossover voting is a problem that affects every candidate. It’s when people from the opposite party vote for a candidate they think is the weakest opponent in the general election. For example, say in 2016, Hillary Clinton supporters either voted in open primaries or switched party registration to vote for Republican Donald Trump, because they felt Clinton would mop the floor with him in the general. Obviously, that wasn’t the case, but if you want to ensure the strongest candidate makes it to the ballot for your party, voting is imperative, especially as election sabotage doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon.
- You get to participate in influencing the national platform for your party. When you choose candidates, you’re typically motivated by issue saliency. For an example, in a 2022 Pew Research survey, the salient issues are the economy, health care costs, COVID, education, immigration, social security, and so on. If you have the top candidates from, say the Republican Party running on easing tariffs, reducing regulations, and tax holidays to improve supply chains, then those are the talking points you’ll likely see party-wide going into the general. If widespread down ballot Democratic candidates are campaigning for the preservation of Roe v. Wade, abortion will likely be the driver in that cycle. If candidates are debating each other, it’s a great time to poke holes in their campaign arguments and make them appear flat-footed or weak. After all, once a candidate selects their lane(s), it’s war time.
- Redistricting is reducing the number of competitive seats in the House, so participation is imperative if voters want to mitigate the side effects of a House without term limits. The Founders didn’t establish term limits because they felt that the strength of Congress rested in the experience of its members. With that said, instead of allowing candidates to lie to voters by telling them they’ll “push for term limits,” paying attention to candidates and their actual agendas in primary elections could minimize the partisan conflict down the road. Meaning, if you can admit that a politician isn’t doing what they were elected to do, your vote has the power to ensure they get primaried, which is when an incumbent is knocked out in the primary round.
To extrapolate on some of these points, politicians and candidates have to learn how to meld fresh ideas with the highest polling single-issues that drive voters to the polls. For example, if a candidate is running on education reform knowing it’s a top five issue, he or she must study the employment forecast and juxtapose it with industry trends to see which sectors will need young, able-bodied workers. If it’s a rural, farming district and your education reform hinges on vocational training, it has to align with what will organically serve the community.
In short, find out what these issues are, ask questions, and force candidates to earn your votes by forcing the system out of its comfort zone.
The troubling reality is that the United States has such an abysmal primary participation number to begin with, that any vote in a primary is significant. Unfortunately, that brings voter sabotage, the reduction in competitive races, and the monopoly on the national party agenda. We know that districts are redrawn to benefit the “ruling” party in the state, but with more and more voters registering or identifying as independents, politicians and candidates must be mindful with their primary messaging.
In general elections, we throw terms around such as “accountability” like it’s confetti during the Super Bowl, but when it actually comes down to it, Washington D.C. is “business as usual” because primaries are designed to amplify candidates and incumbents with the highest fundraising records. With dark money and super PAC’s taking over election cycles, it’s more important than ever to learn how primary elections work and get involved.
