U.S. District Judge Allen Pepper ruled on June 15 that Mississippi establish a party registration system for the 2009 primary elections.Specifically, this ruling stems from a 2006 primary election case filed by attorney Ellis Turnage, according to an article in the Sun Herald. Turnage, a supporter of U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., realized that state Rep. Chuck Espy, also a Democrat, presented competition for Thompson.
So that Republicans in one district would not vote for Espy and thus eliminate Thompson from the primary, Turnage requested that only registered Democrats could vote in the primary so that Republicans would not cross over and sway the votes, according to the article.
Because it was too close to election time, Pepper dismissed the proposition but agreed to revisit the issue this year.
Pepper reviewed the issue this summer and said in an Associated Press article that the Mississippi party primary system must be reorganized by Aug. 31, 2008.
Marty Wiseman, director of John C. Stennis Institute of Government at MSU, said the motive behind the ruling is to purify the primary system by dealing with the issue of Republicans crossing party lines to vote for Democrats.
Because of the suit, there is an issue of voter ID, and Pepper’s ruling means re-registration, he said.
“Everyone would have to re-register as a Republican, Democrat or unaffiliated,” Wiseman said.
The ruling does not mandate voter ID but it is certainly an issue, he said.
“I don’t think this is necessarily what the Democrats who brought the suit wanted but it’s what they got,” Wiseman said, “You never have had to declare formally what party you’re affiliated with [to vote in Mississippi].”
State senator and elections committee member Charlie Ross, R-Madison and Rankin, said he supports voter ID.
Ross said the most important part of Pepper’s ruling is voter ID, stating a person must have identification to do something minor, like rent a movie.
“If you’re doing something as important as voting, you should have to have ID,” he said.
Ross said he supports voter re-registration. Re-registration would help clean out any voting rolls that might have ineligible voters listed; for example, deceased voters or people who have moved out of the state, he said.
Ross said re-registering by party will be an unnecessary expense but he is in favor of a secure system.
“It’s very important that we have an election system that people trust,” Ross said.
Wiseman said he also sees the need for a solid election system.
“Certainly there ought to be an honest process,” he said. “I understand the Democrats’ frustration.”
Wiseman said if the system is put into place, he expects unaffiliated voter registration and tight competition.
“I think you’ll see a high number of unaffiliated voters,” he said. “Both parties will have to be very proactive in registering members.”
State Senator Terry Burton, R-Lauderdale, Newton and Scott, who is the chairman of the elections committee, said he sees the need for a system change.
Burton said there ought to be a “true open primary” with all the candidates and parties listed on one ballot. If this is not the case, this changes voters’ rights, he said.
“I think that we’re still taking away the right for a person to vote for the person of their choice,” Burton said.
Senior political science major Joey Beachum said he does not agree with the proposed party registration system.
“Registering with a certain party only reinforces the ‘two-party-only’ mindset we have in this country, which ranks up there with Prohibition and the XFL as one of the monumentally stupid things we’ve come up with,” Beachum said.
Laura Hamm, sophomore political science major, said she could see both pros and cons to the proposed system.
“On one side of the coin, party registration can seem invasive toward a voter’s privacy. However, it also promotes party affiliation and demands public support,” she said. “In my personal opinion, I wouldn’t mind if the new registration system was implemented.”
Both Beachum and Hamm said they are registered to vote in Mississippi.
Burton said he urges students to register to vote and to remember the absentee voting policies.
“I think that the youth vote is very important,” he said. “These elections are extremely important because the decisions made today affect them [the youth] and possibly their children.