A Seattle Times poll just before last September's primary showed that as many as three-quarters of those planning to vote would have second thoughts if forced to disclose their names and other personal data to a party database in order to do so. The legislation proposed by the House is explicitly meant to offer the parties a face-saving compromise. In Louisiana, unique in the United States, the election for any given office is over if one candidate gets a majority in the primary. Both provisions would leave state parties with even less control over the process than they have now. The parties have powerful incentives to insist on compulsory party identification for primary voters.
Access is power.