The Indiana Primary and "Operation Chaos"

Indiana polling place

"Republican, eh? Take off your clothes and report to secondary."
"Er,...can I report to secondary first?"


With the Indiana Primary approaching, many of the state's Democratic leaders are up in arms over Rush Limbaugh's so-called "Operation Chaos", by which he encourages listeners to vote for Hillary Clinton in order to keep the Democratic Primary process going. Well, to me, it seems that Limbaugh's movement is kind of silly and overblown, but the response of the Dems in Indiana is really off the wall.

According to Dan Parker, the state party chairman, this is a grave threat that must be dealt with. He is talking about having party operatives present at the polling places to challenge registered Republican voters who ask for Democratic ballots.

Others are even quoting Indiana State voting law to threaten voters with criminal prosecution if they "cross over" with the "intent" of disrupting the Democratic Party primary. The Ft. Wayne Politics Blog stated this:

"It's against state law to vote in a primary if you don't plan on voting for a majority of that party's candidates in the upcoming general (or in the last general)election. Is that enforceable? Of course not, but technically, you are violating state law."

Well, I would certainly agree that such a law is not enforceable, especially when you have the verb "plan" in the law. It leads me to wonder who the genius was that drew up that law. Maybe he/she knows how to read minds. Yet, it is surprising from the party that preaches, "Let every vote be counted."

Anyway, here is my suggestion for the Indiana Democratic Party. Why not do what the Republican Party in California has done. In our state, only regfistered Republicans can vote a Republican ballot in a primary. In contrast, the Democrats have an open system in California, by which any registered voter can request and use a Democratic ballot. In fact, that is what I did in the California primary. Though I wanted to vote a Republican ballot, as an independent, I could not. Yet, I was able to request a Democratic ballot, which I did in order to cast a vote for Barack Obama-actually a vote against Hillary Clinton. Was I trying to wreak chaos in the Democratic Party primary? Hardly. The only thing I wanted to do was cast a vote against Hillary Clinton.

So, the power is in your hands, Mr Parker. All you have to do is change your state party rules. While you are at it, you might want to take measures to keep illegal aliens, dead people and convicted felons from voting as well.