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GOP Keeps Independents Locked Out · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: West Virginia Republicans have gone and done it again, As
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  Speaker 1: the saying goes, this weekend's GOP Winter Meeting offered a
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  Speaker 1: chance to reconsider the decision to close the Republican primary
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  Speaker 1: to independent voters. That chance never saw daylight. Instead, the
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  Speaker 1: issue was buried under parliamentary procedure. A motion to rescind
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  Speaker 1: was met with a motion to postpone indefinitely that passed
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  Speaker 1: on a voice vote. No names, no record, no accountability.
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  Speaker 1: Then came a quick adjournment accountability by omission, like the
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  Speaker 1: kid in right field hoping the ball never comes his way. Now,
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  Speaker 1: to be clear, this is the party's decision to make
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  Speaker 1: it's their primary. No dispute there. But here's the real question.
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  Speaker 1: Will independent voters now locked out continue supporting Republicans in
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  Speaker 1: general elections? Republicans make up just forty three percent of
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  Speaker 1: registered voters in West Virginia. That holds true for the
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  Speaker 1: most part, county by county. Translation, republic Plicans don't win
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  Speaker 1: statewide without independent support. A West Virginia Leadership Fund poll
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  Speaker 1: shows sixty four percent of independence voted for Donald Trump,
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  Speaker 1: but nearly seventy percent say they're not switching their registration
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  Speaker 1: and many say exclusion from the primary makes them less
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  Speaker 1: likely to vote Republican. In November, former GOP chair Melody
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  Speaker 1: Potter called the process divisive and sad. She's right. This
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  Speaker 1: is protectionist politics that ignores a large block of conservative
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  Speaker 1: leaning independence who simply reject party absolutism. They value individualism.
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  Speaker 1: Republicans can run their primary however they want, but consequences
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  Speaker 1: follow choices. With only forty three percent of the electorate,
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  Speaker 1: dismissing independence entirely may prove a step too far. Time
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  Speaker 1: will tell whether the party chose wisely or not.