Republicans caught trying to cheat in South Carolina Democratic primary
Some states have “open” primaries, where all registered voters can participate in either party’s primary contest, regardless of their party affiliation. It sounds fair in theory; perhaps a registered Republican has decided to back a Democratic candidate for legitimate reasons. But this open system leaves the door wide open for people to, well, cheat.
Why would it be cheating to vote for a primary candidate in the other party? It’s not, if you’re voting for that candidate for good reason. But because there is no South Carolina 2020 Republican primary contest, we’ve been hearing scattered buzz that some registered Republicans in the state might vote for the Democratic candidate they think is the weakest, in the hope of causing problems for the Democratic candidates who can actually beat Trump. We didn’t know if this was real or rumor, until conservative anti-Trump pundit Bill Kristol posted this alarming video:
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A Trump-Sanders smoking gun.
South Carolina Trump activists in a much-promoted Facebook video: "We're asking South Carolina Republicans to show their support for President Trump by crossing over and voting in the Democratic primary for Senator Bernie Sanders." pic.twitter.com/FNqEUNXDWq— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 26, 2020
To be clear, there is no evidence whatsoever that Sanders himself is a part of this plot. Rather, it appears the Republicans are simply running their own scheme to try to hand Sanders a victory in South Carolina, because it’s what Donald Trump wants. He keeps posting thinly disguised tweets which give away that he’s hoping Sanders is the nominee, and now his supporters are pulling this crap. It doesn’t appear to technically be against the rules, but it’s still cheating.
So what can be done about this? If you don’t think Bernie Sanders should be Democratic nominee, or if you think Sanders would likely lose to Trump in the general election, then the answer is to work that much harder to make sure that someone else wins the South Carolina Democratic primary. Joe Biden is ahead in every poll conducted in South Carolina, and – in this particular state at least – he’s the one you’d want to try to put over the top.
