MI: Michigan Messenger Questions Primary Process

The Michigan Messenger argues in favor of the secret ballot and writes:

For that matter, why does the government run the primary elections — only for the two major parties? The Republican and Democratic parties are private organizations. Who they nominate to put on the general election ballot and how they pick those candidates has nothing at all to do with the state.

The state doesn’t run the nominating conventions for the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Constitution Party or any other political party. Yet we spend millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to have the state run the nomination votes for the two major parties, just one of the innumerable ways the government privileges those two parties against any rivals.

It’s time to get the government out of this business altogether. They should run the general elections, not the nominating process for any political party. And they should keep the ballots cast by voters entirely private and protected from the eyes of those who profit from having them.