Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson has asked a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit filed by the Republican Party of Texas seeking to close GOP primaries.
"I think she believes that Texas operates under an open primary system, and that if we want to change it, that's something that should be done by the state convention and the delegates to the state convention" said attorney Gary Polland, who is also the editor of the Texas Conservative Review.
As noted by Brandon Waltens at Texas Scorecard, the state of Texas currently runs an open primary system, where any registered voter—Republican, Democrat, or independent—may choose which party’s primary ballot to vote in on Election Day. Some conservatives want them closed, but there are others who don't.
"I think it's being made a much bigger deal than it should be, because the number of people that are migrating into the other parties primary is not significant" Polland told KTRH, "We already have a problem in the state, the turnout for our primaries is not as high as it should be, especially in non-presidential years. If you close them off and don't have them come, you have less people."
The Republican Party of Texas has been trying for the last few years to end open primaries, over concerns that Democrats and independents are crossing over to interfere with Republican nominations.
But Polland doesn't think it's that big of a deal, and that the GOP should have a bigger tent.
"For a political party to be successful, it wins by addition and not by subtraction" noted Polland, "If you want to win elections, you've got to bring more people to the table with you."
They are now awaiting the judge's ruling.
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