Independent vote might benefit Barack Obama

By The Associated Press | Sunday, March 09, 2008

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A decision is expected soon on whether South Dakota Democratic Party leaders will open their June 3 primary election to independent voters.

"We've had some discussions about opening it up to independents," said Rick Hauffe, Democratic Party executive director. "The only problem is, we're very late in the game."

Figures as of March 1 show that 47 percent of the South Dakota's registered voters were Republicans and 37 percent Democrats. If the Democratic primary were opened to the 15 percent of voters who are independents, the Democratic primary would have more potential voters than the Republican primary.

And with the presidential nomination race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton so close, even South Dakota's 23 delegates in its last-in-the-nation primary are seen as important.

Political watchers say Obama could have an advantage if independents can vote in the Democratic primary.

Much of the state party's leadership already supports Obama. Six of seven superdelegates, including party chairman Jack Billion, are in his camp.

Hauffe said he thinks state party officials will decide by the end of the week.

"If there are many objections, we wouldn't proceed," said Sharon Stroschein, the state's Democratic National Committeewoman and a superdelegate pledged to Obama.

Hauffe said the party would have to change its bylaws and undergo a one-month hearing process before the Democratic National Committee finalized the change.

Secretary of State Chris Nelson said Friday he'd like to know by early April to figure out how many ballots will be needed.

"The last thing we want to do is run out of ballots," he said. "By the same token, we don't want to print too many and have extra."

Nelson said the deadline is May, when counties need to finalize their voter registration rolls.

South Dakota political consultant Steve Hildebrand, a member of Obama's team, said in an e-mail the Obama campaign is not taking a stance.

"We are not in a position to tell states how to run their elections, but if that is the desire of the South Dakota Democratic Party, Sen. Obama would support their efforts," he said.

It's a different story in the Clinton campaign.

"We believe the South Dakota Democratic primary should remain open to Democrats, as planned," said Isaac Baker, a Clinton spokesman.

Opening the primary would benefit Obama, said Mark Mellman of the Democratic consulting firm The Mellman Group. "He has been winning among independents pretty consistently."

In neighboring Iowa, Obama captured 38 percent of caucus-goers in the Jan. 3 caucuses — many who were first-time participants.

Hauffe said opening the primary to independents might attract more voters to the party and bolster registration numbers that have been slumping the past two decades.

State law barred independents from party primaries before 1996. The law then was changed to allow state parties to decide for themselves.