Opinion
Elections In Lower Merion Are A Formality. In 2021, Will The Democratic Committee Finally Make Them Competitive?
With the exception of two vestigial Republicans who serve on the Board of Commissioners, Lower Merion is a one-party town. So theoretically, at least six of the seven even-ward commissioners (the odd-ward commissioners were elected in 2019, and will be up again in 2023), four of the nine School Board Members, and the three Magisterial Judges, among whose districts the township is divided; will be chosen by voters in the upcoming May 18 Primary Election.
That’s how it works in theory, but in recent years, that’s not how it’s worked at all.
Here’s how it actually works. About seven dozen Democratic Committee People endorse candidates at their endorsement meeting, about two months before the primaries. These endorsed candidates always win in the primaries (and effectively are also the winners of the general elections).
Theoretically, there is nothing stopping unendorsed candidates from filing to run against endorsed candidates in local Lower Merion Democratic primaries.
Practically though, anybody who is even thinking about running against an endorsed candidate in the Democratic primary, needs to know that since Democrats took control of the township 15 years ago, no endorsed candidate has ever lost a primary race.
Is there an alternative to having fewer than 100 Committee People determine who will govern a community of 60,000 citizens?
The Democratic Committee of Lower Merion Narberth (DCLMN) is not required to endorse candidates in local elections. The Committee, if it wanted to, could simply choose not to endorse candidates.
When the Committee does not endorse any candidates in a primary election, that is what is known as an Open Primary (not to be confused with the other definition of Open Primary, which refers to elections that don’t limit participation in a primary to members of a particular party).
This Committee seems to have a lot of power. Who and what are they?
In Lower Merion and Narberth there are 46 polling places (sometimes referred to as precincts). Every four years, each precinct elects two Committee People who become members of the DCLMN. The last election in Lower Merion for Committee People was in May of 2018.
DCLMN’s Charter and By-Laws list the following, among others, as the duties of Committee People:
- to participate in meetings of the County and Area Committees,
- to increase the registration of Democratic electors in their voting districts to its maximum number,
- to see that at least one nomination petition shall be properly circulated and filed for each public office for which nominations are to be made at each Primary Election in their respective election districts,
- to organize political activity in their voting districts thoroughly and effectively to the end of achieving a maximum Democratic vote at the polls and Democratic majorities in the elections,
- to campaign and work for Democratic principles and integrity within the Party and the administration of government, and
- to do all things necessary and proper to effectuate this Charter and By-Laws. Committee persons shall not publicly support opponents of Democratic Party Candidates in the General Election and may be censured for such activity.
Notice that the list of duties does not include endorsing candidates in primary elections.
However, the charter does give some guidance about the endorsement process. It says that “any candidate may be considered by the Committee for endorsement.” While the charter provides guidance as to how the endorsement process should work, it doesn’t take a position in favor of, or against endorsing candidates in primaries. However, the Committee has never voted proactively to have an Open Primary, although the charter does allow for that. There have been a few occasions where no endorsement was given, because no candidate was able to muster a vote of 60%, as required by the charter.
What are the Pros and Cons of Having Open Primaries?
Pros
- Supporters of Open Primaries believe that when it comes to elections, competitive is better than non-competitive.
- When two or more legitimate Democratic candidates are competing with each other, which is a situation that advocates for good government should be encouraging as much as possible (presumably advocates of good government would include the DCLMN), the Committee would not be tipping the scale in favor of one candidate over the other.
- Knowing that their candidacies will be doomed without winning the Committee’s endorsement, otherwise qualified candidates don’t run for local offices (you can’t buck the Party!). When the Committee endorses candidates, elections become non-competitive.
- With Open Primaries, Committee members would be free to support any Democratic candidate in primary elections. Under the current by-laws, if the Committee endorses one candidate in a primary election, and a Committee Person supports another Democrat running against the endorsed candidate, that Committee Person is banned from serving on the Committee for two years.
- DCLMN could take a huge step in guiding Lower Merion away from being an oligarchy (defined as “a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution”), and toward being a real democracy, if it opted for Open Primaries.
Cons
- Many voters, especially in local primaries, are uninformed about the candidates, and they rely on the advice of Committee People, who they trust.
- Committee endorsements act as a counter-weight to possible well financed campaigns by special interests or by “stealth Republicans.”
- Committee People work tirelessly on behalf of the party, and they should be rewarded with the perk of being able to endorse whomever they choose to endorse.
What would the Committee do if, for whatever reason, DCLMN was prohibited from endorsing candidates?
Granted, this hypothetical is completely unlikely, but it’s worth considering. Surely, the Committee members who oppose Open Primaries would figure out workarounds to prevent any feared harm from an Open Primary approach.
For example, if DCLMN was no longer able to endorse candidates in primaries, Committee Members could still work as individuals, or form Ad hoc committees to oppose or support certain candidates in primaries.
What’s the difference between Ad hoc committees working on behalf of, or against candidates, versus the DCLMN doing it?
In some ways the differences would be negligible. The uninformed voter would still be able to seek out the advice of his or her trusted committee person. However, the trusted committee person would be offering his or her advice as an individual, or as a representative of an Ad hoc committee, not on behalf of the DCLMN.
Similarly, well-financed campaigns by special interests or “stealth Republicans,” could be headed off almost as well by an ad hoc committee, as compared to the DCLMN.
The one NOTICEABLE and BENEFICIAL difference is that it’s likely that there will be multiple Ad hoc committees advocating on behalf of multiple candidacies in contested races. And that is guaranteed to result in significantly more community involvement in primary elections – an outcome that advocates of good government, including DCLMN, would strongly be in favor of.
Members of the DCLMN can justifiably point to many actions and positions that Republicans have taken in Pennsylvania and in other states that are blatantly anti-democratic. With that in mind –
Will Lower Merion Democrats in 2021, choose to emulate Republicans by rationalizing the non-democratic practice of endorsing Democrats versus Democrats in Primaries? Or will the Committee demonstrate, by choosing to conduct Open Primaries, that the Democratic Committee of Lower Merion/Narberth really is democratic?
Disclosure
The author is a member of the DCLMN.
Good idea