As a consistent voter, I like to believe that my participation earns me the right to complain, be it about government policy, social or other issues. But this time I am writing to complain about my inability to vote for key county offices in the upcoming primary election. Several winners from the primary will be effectively elected to office on May 5 because they will have no opponents in the August general election. Yet I cannot vote for these candidates, and risk prosecution because I normally (but not always) vote for candidates of a different Party. Tennessee ostensibly has open primaries, meaning a voter can declare Party preference at the polling station. And yet the requirement to affirm party bona-fide under the threat of prosecution to vote cross party smacks of thought police intimidation. Tennessee should either adopt closed primaries by requiring party registration, or remove this flagrant, big-brother, double-talk coercive tactic. Our local representatives Bricken and Bowling should introduce legislation to repeal. Or better yet hold caucuses. There is a fundamental disconnect between spending public funds to hold primary elections to benefit private entities called political Parties. The government does not fund Party caucuses. So why should government fund Party primaries. What if a voter is motivated to cross party line with the intent to actually improve the other Party’s standing (in his or her mind) by voting for a less woke or a less MAGA candidate, as the case may be.

Being excluded from the ability to vote for several consequential local offices feels like taxation without representation. The phrase is not just for the history books. This is a lived experience. And I feel disenfranchised.

Manchester TN 37355