Sam Cahnman, a Sangamon County Board member and
Democratic candidate for the 99th House District, wants freer elections,
but one local party leader and another candidate say that Cahnman is
pushing a bad idea. Since late October, Cahnman has been collecting
petition signatures to get a referendum on next spring’s ballot
asking Springfield voters whether the city should switch to an open primary
system. Under what is called a closed primary system, voters
now must declare a political-party affiliation. That information becomes
part of the public record. Cahnman, who has sponsored various pieces of ethics
legislation as a County Board member, believes that closed primaries might
discourage people from voting, fearing that the information will somehow be
used against them in the future. This, according to Cahnman, concerns
Springfield residents more so than it does people in other Illinois cities.
“This is a government town, and in Springfield
you have a higher percentage of people working for state government than
most other places,” Cahnman says. He first raised the issue while running for the
County Board in 2002. While campaigning for state office this year, Cahnman
says, he found that many voters feel that current system is a violation of
privacy. Where the electorate is concerned, Cahnman says, the
idea of an open primary is popular, although “people entrenched in
public office aren’t going to be for it because it makes it more
difficult to campaign.”
“Political insiders” he says,
“prefer closed primaries to drive down independent-minded
voters.”
Sangamon County Republican chairman Tony Libri
doesn’t agree that closed primaries keep people from voting. He also
says that an open primary might corrupt the system further. To illustrate his point, he uses the upcoming
primary, in which Cahnman is contesting Springfield Ward 4 Ald. Chuck
Redpath for the Democratic nomination in the 99th state legislative
district. “If we think Chuck Redpath would be a stronger
candidate — if we were a corrupt organization — we’d have
our people vote for Sam Cahnman,” Libri says. Cahnman notes that primaries typically draw more
partisan voters, so party nominees are selected by a small percentage of
the electorate. He will need signatures from about 3,700 Springfield
residents by early January to add the issue to the ballot. He currently has
about 1,000 names, he says. Furthermore, Cahnman says, by suppressing voter
turnout, the closed system gives more power to party bosses such as Libri
to determine who receives the party’s nomination. Despite its imperfections, Libri believes that the
closed primary is the best system available. “If someone comes up with a better system, I
would be all for it,” he says. “I’m always in favor of
people deciding their own destiny.”
Ray Coleman, who is seeking the nomination for the
Democratic Central Committee’s 12th District seat, understands the
points of view of voters and candidates, for whom closed primaries make it
easier to campaign. However, as a Democrat endorsing Republican
gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka, Coleman favors the closed system
on principle: “I say go for the best candidate — and if
that’s a Democrat and you’re a Republican, you’re just
going to have to blow your cover.”
This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2005.
