By Sharon Ugolini
Voters didn”t exactly “flock” to Utah”s closed primary election June 25.
Residents turned out in slim numbers to vote for state and local candidates who are seeking to get on the general election ballot in November.
This is the first time primary elections have been closed in more than 30 years, requiring voters to declare what party they belong to before receiving a ballot.
The voting procedure caught some off guard.
It came as a surprise to Wilson Sorensen, a Provo resident, who was turned away from a Republican primary for being a Democrat.
“It”s a terrible thing. It takes away your freedom of speech,” Sorensen said.
Scott Simpson, executive director of the Utah Republican Party said the decision came during the 2001 Republican Convention, when a majority of the delegates voted to hold a closed primary in this year”s elections.
“Republicans felt that the theory that delegates crossed over and voted for a weaker challenger was a good reason to hold a closed primary,” Simpson said.
Sorenson said the Republican stronghold in the state created the party affiliation problem.
Election judges at Timpview High School turned away a dozen people who wanted to change their party affiliation. They had to register another 60 people to a party affiliation before they were allowed to vote.
“For me it”s a logical thing. The public is making their choice for the general election,” said Carolyn Calkin, a resident of Lehi and a judge at Timpview High School.
However, some voters said they felt there was no real reason to limit the primaries along party lines.
“I thought I was registered. I didn”t think it that it would effect the final voter outcome,” said Shirley Ricks, lifetime resident of Provo.
Some voters would have prefered not to declare a party affiliation, but they did it to uphold their right to vote.
“I think if people understood the difference between a primary and an election, people would not get all riled up,” said Doneen Larsen, a judge at Timpview High School and a Provo resident.
