Why Should I Vote in the Primary?

March 4, 2008, voters in Texas will go to the polls to nominate candidates to represent political parties in the general election in November. Many citizens fail to understand the significance of these primary elections. It is not uncommon to hear complaints by people who do not like the choices they have in the general election. Usually, these same people did not participate in the primaries to help choose parties’ nominees.  It is the dedicated and committed few voting in a primary that set the choices for the majority in the November elections.

Karl Rove, former political chief for President Bush, noted that the turnout of evangelical Christians in the presidential election of 2000 was down from 19 million in 1996 to 15 million. He speculated that Christians may be “returning to the sidelines.” If this is true, some might argue that the people whom evangelicals have been electing to office have not done what these voters expected. They have concluded that the process does not work or that it is not worth the time and effort to be involved in the political process.

One has only to look at the presidential election of 2000, which was one of the closest in American history, to realize that we can make a dramatic difference in our country by being involved politically. Please do not misunderstand. I am not saying that government is the solution to all our problems. What I am saying is that many of our problems as home school families are the result of government at some level and that this can be changed through our involvement in the process by which Americans choose our government. George W. Bush was reelected in 2004 because thousands of new voters made the commitment to vote for him. He is also President today because some people campaigned for him to gain the nomination on the Republican ticket. In fact, far fewer people were involved in his becoming the Republican nominee than were involved in his being elected in the general election.

Texas home school families are vulnerable every time the legislature meets. But this year we are more vulnerable because the teachers’ unions and gambling interests are seeking to unseat Republican State Representatives who have been staunch supporters of home schooling and to win open seats.  These unions oppose home schooling and think we should be regulated by the state and thus they support candidates who very often believe that.  This can be prevented in Texas, by God’s grace, through the involvement of home schoolers across the state in campaigns for candidates who understand and are supportive of home schooling freedoms for parents.

I strongly urge you, everyone you know who shares your philosophy of freedom for home schooling, to vote in the Republican or Democratic Primary on March 4^th.  In addition to voting in the primaries, those willing to be active in the political process can truly impact the positions of the political parties. I sometimes hear people say that neither of the major political parties reflects their philosophical positions, so they have joined a third party or become an independent affiliated with no political party. The problem with this approach is that third parties almost never elect anyone and, therefore, do not directly affect public policy.

Texas has open primaries, which means that any registered voter in Texas may vote in any political party’s primary. However, he may only vote in one party’s primary that election year, and he may not vote in a run-off election of another party. Registered voters who did not vote in any primary at all may vote in a run-off election of any party they choose.

In a primary, very few people vote compared with those who vote in a general election. I repeat:  people sometimes complain that they have no good choices in the general election. Those who vote in the primary are choosing the nominee of their political party and therefore, with fewer voters involved, have a greater influence on the final outcome of the general election. Those who wish to be good citizens and enhance their impact on the government vote in the primary.   For information on our Good Citizenship Program and how home school students can learn about government first hand, click here.

The impact that home schoolers in Texas have had on the Republican Party of Texas is a good example of how a dedicated group of people can impact a political party.

In the early 1990s, Texas home schoolers began to vote in the Republican primaries and attend precinct conventions at the polling places after the polls closed. These activist home schoolers and like-minded friends were then elected as delegates to the county or senatorial conventions two weeks later. There, they presented and passed resolutions that represented their philosophy and elected themselves and friends as delegates to the Republican State Convention. Home schoolers on the platform committee were successful in getting the committee to adopt a resolution extolling the virtues of home education and opposing regulation by the state. When the full convention adopted that report, the official position of the Republican Party of Texas became pro-home schooling.  This year we are supporting a resolution promoting the Texas Parental Rights Restoration Act (TPRRA).  (See third article.)

As home school families continue to be active in the political process, they gain in government an advantage that protects their freedoms to teach their children at home. If we flag or wane in our efforts or begin to “return to the sidelines,” we risk losing the freedom that we currently have and diminish the possibilities of gaining more freedoms. My prayer is that you and your family will continue, or begin, to practice good citizenship by voting in the primary of the party of your choice next Tuesday and taking part in the convention process of the political parties in Texas.

For your information, I have a brief description of the political party convention process below with a link to the two major political parties’ rules that outline their respective guidelines for choosing delegates and adopting the platform of the party. 

In your service,

Tim Lambert,

Chairman, THSC PAC

Political Party Convention Process