Circular Arguments from State Officials

The Republican Secretary of State & RPA are circling the wagons to block implementing the State Convention's vote to close the GOP primaries.

ICYMI: Truth about the Republican primaries from Robert Steinbuch (as published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on June 28):

Republican or Republi-can’t?

Arkansas primary elections are "open," meaning that Democrats and independents can vote in Republican primaries and vice versa. So earlier this month, the Republican Party approved a rule change during its bi-annual state convention to close its primaries, precisely because these cross-party voters often seek to harm Republicans.

My columnist-colleague John Brummett recently said this quiet part out loud, writing: "These zealots [closed-primary-preferring Republicans] want to keep the likes of me from voting in their primaries, which I have done in recent cycles . . . though I acknowledge a need to rush home and shower . . . [I seek] to weaken the Republicans by saddling them with the most destructive nominee[s]."

When someone declares his goal of undermining a party by "infiltrat[ing]" its primaries to choose "destructive nominee[s]," all while decrying the need to wash away the stench of doing so, count me among those eschewing such an enabling system. To modestly paraphrase Lesley Gore: It's our party, and we'll close it because we want to. (Because we want to keep folks from seeking to destroy it, that is.)

The recent convention adopting the rule change was chaired by attorney Jennifer Lancaster--my former student--after she won an election for that office. (The party's chair isn't in charge of the convention unless he is separately elected to that position.)

After the convention, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' office seemingly endorsed closing Republican primaries, saying that the "governor prioritized election integrity during her first legislative session, signing multiple bills into law to ensure our elections remain free and fair, and will continue to work with her legislative partners on solutions to protect election integrity, including guarding against Democrats voting in Republican primaries."

Around the same time, Secretary of State John Thurston's press secretary put out a statement asserting additional legislation is required to effectuate the change.

The spokesperson's comments, however, conflicted with Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin's analysis. Last year, in addressing this question, Griffin stated: "No additional legislation would be needed [to close a party's primary] because voters can already choose their party affiliation on voter registration forms, which they may obtain at a county clerk's office or one of several other locations. A political party could use this party affiliation to determine who is eligible to vote in that party's closed primary elections."

So I wrote Thurston directly, asking him about the need for additional legislation.

He responded: "The Republican Party of Arkansas has indicated they are wanting a closed primary for the Republican Party. The Attorney General issued an opinion last year stating that legislation was not needed to make this change. I agree with the Attorney General. However, the opinion was narrow and I believe legislation will be needed to provide the framework to implement this change to ensure that no voters are disenfranchised."

Perhaps out of an over-abundance of caution, I further pressed on whether the secretary of state believes additional legislation is required, and he aptly responded: "No . . . Presuming the completion of the process by the party, . . . The State Board will promulgate rules. If legislation is passed beforehand, such legislation will be incorporated accordingly." (Ellipses in original.)

During this time, Convention Chair Lancaster also emailed Thurston notice of the party's vote to close primaries. With these two developments, I thought the primary-closing process was underway.

But when I reached out to Thurston about a week later--asking whether he's moving forward with closed primaries--he wrote: "My office has not received official notification from the Republican Party of Arkansas regarding this matter."

I was confused. Lancaster was the elected chair of the convention. Seems that means that her notification speaks for the entire party regarding matters covered at, well, the convention.

So Thurston and I exchanged a few texts, and he then wrote Lancaster, asking: "Do you have express authority to act on behalf of the entire Republican Party of Arkansas?"

Lancaster responded: "According to Article I Section 1(B) [of the party's rules] . . . 'the final authority in all party matters shall rest in the biennial Republican State Convention.' As the Convention Chair and as the Chair of the committee elected by the Convention body to oversee closing the primaries, I have full authority to speak on behalf of the Republican Party of Arkansas on the issue of closing the primaries. What basis do you have to think otherwise?" (Ellipses in original, emphasis and scrivener's note omitted.)

Lancaster copied party chairman Joseph Wood and party executive director Seth Mays and stated that "[t]hey may indicate if they disagree." She heard no opposition from them.

I followed up with the Secretary of State and the party's chair and executive director asking "whether any of the three ... believe that anything beyond Convention Chair Jennifer Lancaster's notification and the newly enacted rules that she sent separately is legally necessary for the Secretary of State to begin instituting closed primaries for the Republican Party."

Thurston promptly responded: "Nothing additional is requested at this time. The information provided is being processed."

I'm not exactly sure what that processing entails, but let's hope that it promptly begets the implementation of closed Republican primaries. Those doubting the value of this improvement should not only consider that it is the express will of the party but also that folks openly proclaiming their desire "to weaken the Republicans" oppose this change. Those infiltrators, who have stated their goal of "saddling [Republicans] with the most destructive nominee[s]," have preened their efforts on these very pages. Believe them.

This is your right to know.