Lawsuit challenges the legality of taxpayer funded primaries

03-09-2014 • Free Press Publications

Seven voters in New Jersey filed a lawsuit against the state government in federal court over the fact that independent voters are excluded from taxpayer funded primaries. The lawsuit, Balsam v Guadagno, states that because a voter must be a registered member of a major party to participate in the primary election, the state has disenfranchised nearly 48% of New Jersey voters. On the other side of the proverbial coin, people argue that a party has an inherent interest in keeping non-party members from participating in their nomination process because the parties are private entities. Those people are correct. Technically speaking, all political parties in the United States are private organizations. However, the two major parties accept hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to fund their primaries and party conventions.