Voters: You Are In Charge

The reason for the June primary is to let voters decide among Democratic or Republican candidates which ones should be on the party line in November. It has been many a long year since there was a primary contest among GOP candidates, but there have been Democratic primary contests often.

The primary winner may not be a party darling, but if it was solely up to the party chairman to anoint a candidate for November, there would be no need for a primary. At this time , the primary system is the law in Plainfield, so whether the chairman embraces the primary winner is not as important as the fact that the people - aka voters - legally have the right to choose who wins. The voters then have their say in the November general election where party primary winners and independents are on the ballot.

Soon voters will receive their sample ballots. The actual choices will be on that ballot. If a voter receives an image of a ballot in the mail, it may be altered for political reasons. The sample ballot from the county clerk is the real list of candidates.

Apparently in Plainfield and Linden Democratic primary winners are being rejected by the party chairman. If you are a Democrat, you can verify the official candidate here or look at your sample ballot when it comes in the mail.

Until such time as voters decide that Plainfield should hold nonpartisan elections, there will be June primaries and the winners as chosen by the voters will be on the November ballot.

Now, in the general election voters can select their choices from anyone on the row for a particular seat. A Democrat could vote for a Libertarian or a Green Party candidate or even write in "Mickey Mouse," as has happened in the past. Voters can skip a row if they don't like any choices, or if there are two or three seats to be filled as in Freeholder candidates every year and Assembly candidates next year, voters can just pick the ones they really like and skip the others.

It must be a strain for a chairman who doesn't agree with his own party's voters on primary winners. To what lengths might he go to avoid endorsing the voters' choice for the November party line? Would he hook up with the GOP behind the scenes to try to thwart the legitimate primary winner?

This is a confusing year for Democratic voters who are getting mixed messages from leadership. Voters need to be on the alert for gimmicks and shell games. If a party chairman tells you some primary winners are more equal than others, watch out. Inform yourself and then vote as you will - you are in charge at the polls.

--Bernice