Each voting year, the local newspaper publishes a “sample” ballot.  And each time one thing jumps out at me about the primary ballot.  I’m only allowed to vote within one political party.  If I were just Republican or Democrat this probably wouldn’t bother me.  I’m not.  I like to consider myself a centrist independent.

The problem then becomes that while I may think the Republican candidate for Governor is the best person for the job, I also may think that the Democratic candidate for Senator is the best man for the job.  If I were to vote that way, my ballot would be rejected.

I understand that it is set up this way to ensure that a candidate from each party is on the November ballot.  What I don’t understand is why the partisan politics are allowed.  Encouraged even.

Scenario: There is a Democrat encumbent in office.  Obviously, the Democratic party is not going to run another candidate against the encumbent.  It’s also a given that in the primary election, there could be more than one Republican candidate.  For this scenario, there are two Republican candidates.  Suppose that the majority of the people would rather have either of the Republican candidates instead of the Democrat.  Wouldn’t it make more sense for the top two vote getters in the primary to run against each other instead of only the top Republican and top Democrat?  Sure, it would make for a one party November election, but if both Republicans are more popular than the lone Democrat, it would also make more sense.  Also, in this day and age, the odds of it playing out to where there were a one party ballot are pretty slim.

What I am suggesting is that we get rid of partisan ballots.  Let the best person win.  That’s the way it was supposed to be and should be.

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