Saturday letters: Pitfalls of unaffiliated voting; 'gullible' Democrats

Unaffiliated voting can undermine elections

I believe that the recent passage of a bill by the House of Representatives that allows unaffiliated voters to automatically become unaffiliated after voting in a partisan primary is wrong-minded.

I realize that unaffiliated voters have been voting in Rhode Island primaries for many years. The idea behind this practice is to encourage more people to participate in elections. When we look at voting percentages in many other countries, we can see why there is support for this. It would be very interesting to know whether or not this practice has resulted in an increased percentage of people participating in primaries.

I have never felt all that comfortable about people who do not subscribe to a particular political philosophy being able to help determine which candidate should carry a certain party’s banner.

For example, let’s say Joe Schmo is the founder and acknowledged leader of the Cool Raccoon Party and is running for lieutenant governor and I am the candidate of the Toupee Party for the same office. I do not believe that I should be able to get a bunch of my political cronies to flood into the Cool Raccoon primary and vote for Joe’s lesser-known opponent, denying him the nomination, and making it easier for me to win the election. Under current law, this is possible.

The House-passed bill only makes the chicanery I just mentioned even more tempting. It is not so painful or disruptive to complete a form that returns a voter to unaffiliated status. I urge the Senate to keep things in place.

For clarification purposes, I am a Democrat with many past political associations. But I offer this opinion entirely on my own behalf.

J. Clement Cicilline, Newport

'Gullible' Democratic voters

After reading Richard Donelly's letter to the editor "Trial might not sway Trump's supporters" (May 5) in which he poured out praise to a letter by Gordon Rowley on April 27 ("Trump may win in court, but not the election"), I am astonished by their representation of how gullible some R.I. Democratic voters are.

Both letters regurgitate the lying rhetoric of the Democratic Party and the demonization of Trump and those who support him. One has to wonder if Mr. Donelly and Mr. Rowley realize they are trashing Trump, those who support him and the "Make America Great Again!" mindset they proclaim while a growing portion of the Democratic Party chants "Death to America!" without a single concern or opposition by R.I.'s Democratic congressional delegation: Reed, Whitehouse, Magaziner, and Amo.

Rhode Islanders need to vote for representatives of the state's citizens, not party hacks.

J. Edward Toole, West Warwick

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Saturday letters: Pitfalls of unaffiliated voting; 'gullible' Democrats