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[MADem]

31. It provides the voters an opportunity to "input" into the

decision making process as members of the party in question.

When they start opening primaries, though, it gets away from the parties. That used to be an advantage to parties to "plus up" their voting rolls--now it's starting to be regarded as a problem.

Many people are too young to remember how it used to happen. It's a new thing, relatively speaking, in terms of our nation's history, that We The People have ANY input at this stage of the game.

Previous to this, "we" weren't invited to participate in the process at this stage at all. And those people who were black, female, or didn't own property, way back when, why, they had no clout at all at any stage of the game!