Mississippi GOP Finds the 5th Circuit Appealing

The state Republican Party has also appealed U. S. District Judge Allen Pepper’s ruling to the 5th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Since the Republicans were not a party to the lawsuit, they would have to have been approved as intervenors in order to be able to file an appeal.

“The Mississippi Republican Party claims it was never involved in the lawsuit and should be exempt from the final ruling.”

If the unconstitutionality of our current primary election law is upheld on appeal-- as I believe it will be-- the new laws that are enacted will obviously apply to all political parties in the state. Each party will then be free to say who votes in its primaries, and the Republicans have said that they will keep their primaries open to ALL voters-- even if party registration is enacted.

The purpose of party registration is to identify voters. The Republicans have no need to identify any voters, since they are going to keep their primaries open. However, if the legislature enacts party registration, all voters will obviously have to indicate whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or independents.

The Democrats have said that they will invite independents but exclude Republicans from their primaries. Thus, Republicans will be the only voters who will need to be identified. There is a way that the Democrats could identify Republicans without party registration-- which I won’t detail in this post.

“In June, Pepper… mandated a closed primary system...”

UGH. Closed primary: a party’s primary ballot is only available to that party’s members. No judge, no court can close a primary, and neither can the state. If a party’s primary is closed, it’s because that party closed it.

Here’s the Associated Press story on the Republican Party’s appeal.

There’s nothing here claiming that Judge Pepper “ordered” or “mandated” closed primaries.

Ballot Access News has commented on the Mississippi Republicans’ appeal.

This commentary is also posted at Yall Politics.