Our Constitution doesn’t mention political parties, but by our third presidential election, the Federalist Party was backing John Adams and the Democratic-Republican Party supported Thomas Jefferson. Ever since then parties have been an integral part of the American political system.

One function of parties is to select candidates to run for office. Various methods have been tried, but most parties now pick their nominees in a primary. Four main types of primaries have evolved. In the blanket primary all voters receive the same ballot with the names of all the candidates. They can skip around, voting for a Democratic nominee for governor, a Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, and so on. Only Washington state does this.

In an open primary all voters may vote, but they are given the ballot of their choice. An election official asks the voter which party ballot she or he prefers. Any voter may vote in any party primary, but only in one.

In a closed primary, which Pennsylvania now has, the selection of nominees is limited to registered members of that party. For example, Republicans may only vote in the Republican primary. Independents are locked out.

State Sen. Joe Scarnati, Republican from Jefferson County, has introduced a bill, backed by Gov. Tom Wolf and the reform group Common Cause, to allow Independents to vote in the party primary of their choice. Registered Democrats and Republicans, however, would only be allowed to vote in their own party’s primary. This type of primary, sometimes mislabeled as “open,” is defined as a semi-closed primary.

Advocates for open or semi-closed primaries do not seem to realize that parties mean something. They support programs and advance goals. Democrats and Republicans differ on gun safety, abortion, global warming, charter schools, the inheritance tax, and health care policies, to cite just a few examples. Why should someone who is incapable of choosing between those parties be granted permission to pick the nominees of those parties?

I should point out that open primaries are even worse than Sen. Scarnati’s proposed semi-closed primary system. In an open primary partisan voters often cross over to support the weakest candidate of the other party. If only one party has a contested primary, many voters will request ballots for the party with the competition.

Incidentally, states that have switched from closed to open primaries have not found a tremendous jump in participation. Evidently partisan registrants are more interested in civic affairs.

Independent voters sometimes complain about their inability to vote in primaries, but that is their choice. Pennsylvania makes it relatively easy to register with a party. Voters may register online and up to 30 days before an election. If you are registered as “independent” or “decline to state,” it is time for you to jump into the arena and join the fray. That is what citizens do in a democracy.

Roy Christman taught American Government and Parties and Elections at San Jose State University before retiring in 2002. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Pennsylvania State University and has been active in party politics since his teens. He lives in Towamensing Township.

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.