The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-14
PRIMARY PARTICIPATION.

Necessity has been aptly and rightly
styled the mother of invention. Per-
haps this is the reason for the change
Of front on the part of Fred S. Jack
son, the states attorney general, con-
corning the rights of voters in par
ticipating in the primaries. Under the
most recent one he has delivered ii
rests with a voters conscience solely
as to whether he will vote on a Re-
publican or Democratic ticket on
primary day. He is to decide for him
self whether he is a Republican or q
Democrat on that day and it does not
matter with which party he has affili-
ated before. Furthermore, election
judges have no right to question a man
as to what party he has been allied
with to determine his right to vote
any party ticket he may call for.
OF course, such a construction of
the primary law opens the door for
Democrats to participate in the Re-
publican primaries as they have been
at least indirectly invited to by
Governor Stubs. He has boosted that
he will get any number of Democratic
votes. Maybe he has meant he would
get them on election day, considering
his denomination as a foregone conclu-
sion. But he has been making these
statements during the primary cam
paign, which is supposed to be cam
paign inside the respective parties.
Mr.. Jackson's present opinion to the
contrary, it is likely the idea of most
people that the participation of Demo-
Gratis in Republican primaries and of
Republicans in Democratic primaries
is not in sympathy with the spirit of
the primary law. Nor does there seem
to be any way to judge what mans
party Affiliations are except by what
they have been in the immediate past.
No primary law should ever be drawn
which would attempt to prohibit man
from changing parties if he so desired.
But he ought not to be permitted to
change oftener than once a year for
the purpose of participating in the
management of a party. This is the
test of party allegiance which is de-
manded by primary laws in some other
states and it is a reasonable one. In
these states a man is allowed to par
ticipate only in the primary of the
party for whose candidates he cast his
vote on the last preceding election
day.
Some such qualification appears to
have been in the mind of Mr.. Jackson
in his discussion of this same question
a year ago when he wrote: Although
the right of citizenship carries with it
the right to vote, that means the right
to vote at the general elections at
which public officers are chosen. But
on primary day the right Of the sew
eraI political parties predominant, and
no person has a legal or moral right
to interfere with the transaction of
any political party's business if he is
not a member of that particular po-
litical party"
Under Mr.. Jacksons new ruling a
man is permitted to decide to which
political party he belongs on primary
day. His political Affiliations of the
past are to count for nothing. If such
a system is followed in Kansas or any
other state it means the destruction
of the parties. The political machin-
cry of the nation and its. states de-
mand a government by parties. Colo
mel Roosevelt recognizes this fact. He
is a strong advocate of party rule. He
is also a strong adherent to the prin-
ciples of direct primaries and on this
subject he wrote recently in the Out
look:
Under our system of party govern
ment, therefore, the voters should be
guaranteed the right to determine
within the ranks of their respective
organizations who the candidates of
the parties will be, no less than the
right to choose between the candidates
when the candidates are presented
them. There is no desire to break
down the responsibility of party or
ganization under duly constituted par
ty leadership, but there is desire to
make this responsibility real and to
give the members of the party the
right to say whom they desire to exc
cute this leadership