By Stu Robinson,

This week the postman brought my vote-by-mail ballot for the upcoming primary election.

In Arizona, independents can vote in the primary of their choice. Many choose the Republican ballot because the GOP is the dominant party in a state in which too many races are decided by the primary. That’s what I did two years ago, when the Democrats didn’t bother to run state legislative candidates in my district.

Credit: AZCentral.com

This year, since all the GOP legislative candidates for my district are from the party’s kook wing, I decided to go with the Democratic ballot. Reviewing it brought home that fact that, though the tinfoil-hat Republicans have done most of the damage in the eight years I’ve lived here, the Arizona Democratic Party is complicit in its own small way.

Specifically, the Democrats didn’t bother to offer candidates for eight of the 18 races, including the 8th District U.S. House seat, state treasurer and all five county positions. And there was only one race, state superintendent of public education, that required a choice – i.e., there were more candidates on the primary ballot than could be nominated.

Democratic partisans cite limited funding, lack of candidates and long odds for not competing competently on my side of town, but I don’t buy it.

Two years ago, after the kookacracy had led the state through another horrific legislative session, the Democrats had a chance to capitalize on redistricting and public disgust. Arizona really has only two media markets, so the Democrats could have run one, statewide campaign against incumbent Republicans. It would have buoyed, and been buoyed by, strong Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate and Maricopa County sheriff.

But that’s not what happened. Instead, the party’s best and brightest competed among one another for a new, tossup U.S. House seat and the chance to get the hell out of Arizona. This circular firing squad yielded one winner; the statewide electorate was the loser. And the Senate and sheriff candidates lost.

At least this year, I’ll have more choices in the general election. The Democrats managed to put up the minimum number of state legislative candidates in my district. But, with all of the unopposed candidates and uncontested seats, was the Democratic primary ballot even worth filling out and returning? We’ll … there was that heart-stopping race for the state school superintendent nomination.

More importantly though, the last item on the ballot was the nonpartisan race for my city council district. I got to choose from four candidates! Never overlook the down-ballot contests. In Arizona, at least, municipalities are the most competent and responsive level of government.

Of course, those non-partisan local candidates would have been on the Republican primary ballot too.

Still, it’s our constitutional duty to vote, and it’s a good habit to maintain. It helps to be on the permanent list for mail-in ballots. But the biggest takeaway for me, I guess, was that having to choose a primary ballot forced me to familiarize myself with the candidates from both parties – better enabling me to evaluate the nominees during the general election campaign.

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Stuart J. Robinson practices writing, editing, media relations and social media through his business, Phoenix-based Lightbulb Communications.