An attempt to change Party Rules in favor of closed primaries failed by only 18 votes at the Republican State Committee meeting on December 3. The only other proposed Rules change — to require registering to vote as a Republican in order to file for elected office — also failed.
The party’s Rules Committee had unanimously failed to recommend both proposals, which were submitted by the First District Committee.
In July, delegates to the Republican State Convention voted overwhelmingly to declare their support for closed primaries as part of the state party’s platform.
As reported by ArkansasOnline.com:
The Republican Party’s First District Congressional Committee proposed two rule changes that the party’s Rules Committee recommended against passing.
Under one of the proposed changes, voters would be required to be registered as a Republican to vote in the Republican Party primary election.
The other proposed change would require candidates to be registered as a Republican to file for elected office as a Republican.
Fulmer said a two-thirds vote of State Committee members at Saturday’s meeting was required for the committee to consider the changes after the Rules Committee recommended against them.
She said 121 members voted for considering the changes, which was short of the 139 needed.
Afterward, First District Congressional Committee Chairwoman Sarah Dunklin declined to comment on the proposed changes.
Rules Committee Chairman Steve Lux told the Republicans that Arkansas has about 1.8 million registered voters.
He said about 7% are designated as Republicans and about 5% as Democrats. About 87% haven’t designated a party. A small sliver of others have designated themselves with other parties or as nonpartisan, he said.
“We are the most Republican state in the nation, and we did it with open primaries,” Lux said.
He said holding a closed primary will take action by the Legislature and the governor. Developing the details to change state law for a closed primary will take time, he said.
He urged the State Committee to give elected officials time to work on the details.
The party’s general counsel, A.J. Kelly, told the Republicans there are about a dozen pending lawsuits over Arkansas election law changes, including a lawsuit over third parties. Republicans should wait until that lawsuit is resolved before considering moving to a closed primary, he said.
Under a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, states cannot require all parties to have closed primaries under state law, “so if we do, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the other folks do,” he said. In addition, the state of Arkansas currently pays for primary elections, he said.
Randy Alexander, a former Republican state representative, said Republicans elect their standard-bearers in the primary election.
Democrats cross over to vote in the Republican primaries and elect the person who is the most liberal, Alexander said. He attributed his 2014 primary defeat to Lance Eads of Springdale at least in part to Democrats voting in the primary.
There are other states with closed primary elections, so with Republican supermajorities in the Legislature, “Figure it out, get it done and pass it now,” he said.
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