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February 06, 2008

Staff Column
By Jim Dickson

Primary elections are arguably much more important than the general elections. Primaries are where candidates identify their supporters and decide issues on which to campaign. By the time the general election comes around, the winning candidates who have survived the primaries, have fashioned their platform, made their promises and decided on the themes for stump speeches, issue papers and campaign ads. There is a reason they are not called “secondaries.” Webster dictionary defines “primary” as “first or highest in rank, quality or importance….preliminary to a later stage in a continuing process.”

People with disabilities do not vote in primaries. Only 0.5% of us are regular primary voters. Beginning in the 1980s, the Evangelical community made voting in the primaries a major objective with the result that Evangelical issues are a part of political discourse. Pastor Rod Parsley, founder and president of Moral Clarity said, “There is no such thing as just a primary.”

In 1993, at the beginning of Bill Clinton’s presidency, he startled the chattering classes when the first major issue he pushed was gays in the military. Why did Bill Clinton do this? Was he surprised it was controversial? No. Did he think it would be an easy fight? No. He kept his promise to the first organized constituency that supported him in the primaries. The Gay and Lesbian community were the first group to consistently deliver votes to Bill Clinton in his bid for the presidency.

It is not enough for individuals with disabilities to vote. We must organize issued-based Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) drives focused on issues and we have to be able to prove that we turned out our people. Any political candidate who is going to campaign on disability issues without proof that people with disabilities vote in the primaries will be a loser. We need to organize lists of people with disability interests, phone bank them with nonpartisan issues, and after Election Day, check against the voter registration file to see who actually votes. This is called a list enhancement.

Only about 7% of the general public cares deeply about the pro-choice/pro-life issue. Yet every elected official has a position on the abortion question. Why? Approximately 3.5% of the public votes for pro-choice candidates. But that 3.5% makes up nearly one quarter of dependable Democrat primary voters. The other 3.5% makes up nearly one quarter of dependable Republican primary voters.

Disability issues are going to be left out of public discourse until we are an organized voting bloc.

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