South Carolina Open Primary Election Law Unconstitutional

The South Carolina Governor is a Republican. The South Carolina House is controlled by Republicans. The South Carolina Senate is controlled by Republicans.

Why is it then that the Republicans will not enact a Registration by Party election law?

The answer is that some Republican members of the Senate and House are Republicans in name only (RINOs). As it is now, we have an open primary and any voter in the state can vote in our Republican primary.

The RINOs do not want to change the primary election laws to closed primaries (where only registered Republicans may vote for our party nominee) because the RINOs like it that moderate independents and Democrats are permitted to vote for them in the primary elections. That makes it harder for constitutional conservatives to vote them out of office where they can do less damage.

Because the legislature apparently will not act, the South Carolina Republican Party and the Greenville Republican Party have filed a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit was necessary because the RINO's election law scheme violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, the RINO legislator's election law scheme forces Republicans into an unwanted association with Democrats and moderate independents in the election of our Party standard bearer. We cannot nominate truly conservative standard bearers when Democrats and independents enter our primaries and vote for the wrong primary candidates. That waters down our leaders and forces us to tolerate Republicans who do not truly believe in our Constitution or conservative, limited-government values.

The attorneys representing the Republican Party against the State have filed a brilliant legal brief explaining in detail the legislative election scheme (RINO Protection Scheme). The brief explains why the RINO scheme is a grossly unconstitutional infringment on our Constitutional rights of free association.

The issue of registration by party is of critical importance. In 2012, the State will conduct a Presidential Preference Primary. The RINO open primary scheme does preclude a voter from voting in the primaries of both of the main national political parties. That mitigates the constitutionally intrusive damage to some degree in the normal election year. However, in 2012, the Democrat Party has already announced it will not conduct a Presidential Preference Primary.

That means hoards of Democrat voters will cross over in 2012 and vote for the moderate Republican presendential nominee. We are proud of the fact that we are the "First in the South" primary. However, if RINOs in the Legislature continue to permit Democrats and moderate independents to come over and wreck the presidential preference primary, especially in a year when it is so important that we get rid of President Obama by nominating a conservative candidate, then we really should consider just letting Florida go first with their primary.

More importantly to us on a local level, the hoard of Democrats may also be voting for the RINO State Senators who may be challenged in Republican primary election contests. The RINOs in the State Senate are the biggest impedement to implementation of lower state taxes. They block rules that would create transparency in spending of taxpayer funds. They spend lavishly on their crony capitalism good ole boy network. They stonewall enactment of a fiscally conservative budget.

We Republicans cannot afford to dither. We need immediate action to enact a closed primary election law, registration by party.