News-Record.com

Thanks to the hospitality of North Carolina Democrats and Republicans, I'm invited to vote in either party's primary. So are more than 1.2 million of my fellow independents.

By the way, we are gaining on Democrats and Republicans.

A decade ago, 14 percent of registered voters in North Carolina declined to affiliate with a party. Now we're 21 percent. Democrats dropped from 52 percent to 45 percent. Republicans were stuck at 34 percent.

There is no majority party in North Carolina in terms of membership; neither Democrats nor Republicans can win statewide elections without appealing well beyond their loyal base. Unfortunately, these minority parties are still co-monopoly parties, which means they conspire together to make it difficult for independent candidates to get on the ballot, except in nonpartisan races.

Independents are welcome to vote, for Democratic or Republican candidates, but not to run for major political offices themselves.

That's exploitation, but we independent-minded voters can turn it into opportunity. Before us stands not one door, but two doors, to political participation. There's a party going on behind each door, and it's entirely our choice which to open.

Not to join, mind you, but just to visit. We're not bound to stay. We don't have to buy in to the beliefs or traditions of voters who wear their party labels. Some of us -- and I hope I'm not betraying any secrets here -- enter with mischief in our hearts. We might vote in a party's primary having no intention of supporting that party in the fall but desiring instead to lift up its weakest candidates. Oh, what evil lurks when the political stakes are high.

But therein lies a problem. While unaffiliated voters have twice the choice -- we can jump into either party's primary while Democrats and Republicans are restricted to their own -- we do have to pick one or the other, not both.

Which isn't always easy.

Although this time I suspect most of my independent brothers and sisters will be drawn to the Democrats, who have an intense battle under way between presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Both already have campaigned in the state, and Hillary's sent her husband and daughter as well. They'll all be back, probably several times, because North Carolina's vote really matters. It's natural that independents want to have a say in the outcome.

But Democrats beware: Most independents may cross over to support Republican John McCain later. The maverick senator is known for his popularity among independents. If he wins North Carolina in November, as expected, it won't be Republicans, all 34 percent of them, who give him the victory. So look for independents to vote Democratic in May but Republican in November.

I'm one unaffiliated voter, however, who hasn't picked my primary yet. For one thing, I don't have a preference between Obama and Clinton. For another, there are important state and local races. I want my votes to count in those contests, and I haven't figured out yet which primaries give me the best chance to make a difference.

Is it the Republican gubernatorial primary or the Democratic U.S. Senate race? A Republican county commissioners race or a Democratic legislative contest?

While I appreciate the chance to choose, for me and maybe the 1.2 million like me, there is a fundamental flaw.

We're independent because we don't want to be Democrats or Republicans.

But, come May 6 and again Nov. 4, we've got to vote for Democrats or Republicans.

Sure, we have the choice. But, boiled down, it's not really our choice.

I don't know about my fellows, but I'd like to see independents on the ballot in a primary of our own.

No Republicans or Democrats allowed.

Contact Doug Clark at dgclark@news-record.com or 373-7039.