Snow, bill to allow independent votes in primaries, stalls action

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January 28, 2010

By RONNIE ELLIS The Glasgow Daily Times Thu Jan 28, 2010, 05:31 PM CST

FRANKFORT — It wasn’t officially snowing just yet in Frankfort on Thursday afternoon – forecasts for a winter storm induced lawmakers to call off the Friday session – but the air in the Senate was full of bluster nonetheless.

A winter storm warning with projections of accumulation varying from 3 to 6 inches in the northern part of the state and even more along the Tennessee border prompted lawmakers to call off Friday’s session. But before they left, state Senators engaged in blustery speechifying about a bill to allow independents to vote in primaries.

In the end, they called that vote off, too. But it’s likely to come back.

A bill by Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, would allow independents to vote in primaries of the two major parties. He said he proposed the bill at the request of a constituent in his district. But Democratic senators opposed the bill on the floor for a variety of reasons – the potential for mischief by those who wanted to vote for one party’s weaker candidate in order to boost the other party’s prospects in the fall and the argument that Democrats should choose their nominees and Republicans theirs.

Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said the bill was “about expanding the franchise,” but Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville, said it was about adhering to a party’s principles.

“Why do we want to let someone outside our party choose our nominee?” Shaughnessy asked.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, whose father was the long-time county clerk of Cumberland County said it was only about allowing local voters to have more participation in the choice of local officials.

“In our county at that time, if you registered Democrat you really didn’t have any say in local offices,” Williams said. “This is not about a state senator, this is about who is commonwealth attorney, who is the county attorney or who is the county clerk?”

Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, raised concerns about someone changing his registration to independent shortly before a primary and then voting in the primary of the other party in order to influence their nominee so that his original party’s candidate would have a bitter chance. Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, said voters must be registered accordingly by the previous Dec. 31 to vote in a primary, citing a statute to that effect. But Jones cited a competing statute which appeared to say otherwise.

The contradictory statutes prompted Williams to move to pass over the bill until Monday.

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.

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