Law Day is May 1st.  It’s a day where we celebrate our legal system.  A system that’s gotten a lot of publicity lately as a former President goes before the criminal courts for the first time in history. 

The phrases “We are a nation of laws” and “No person is above the law” have become trite and clichéd sayings.  But the reason they become trite and cliched sayings is because they are true.  And it’s important that we keep it that way.  It’s important that we keep it so that no man is above this nation of laws.

But we won’t keep it that way if we aren’t educated voters. In the past couple of years I have coined the expression, “ We don’t need voter I; we need voter IQ.”  We need educated voters that understand and appreciate the rule of law.  Educated voters that can look at the character of the candidates and the issues and not just the slogans and the advertising campaigns.

We have been seeing an unprecedented number of members of Congress resigning from their positions citing their frustration with all the dysfunction in Washington.  Too many in office are more concerned with camera time and fund raising than they are with solving problems.  We’ve seen this recently with Marjorie Taylor Greene and members of the Freedom caucus trying to hold the Speaker of the House hostage and prevent important legislation from moving forward. A handful of extremists are messing up our form of government.

Yes, May 1st is Law Day.  But two weeks later is a day that really matters. Two weeks later, on May 14th it’s primary election day.  An election day that too many voters tend to ignore.  But I can make the argument that in many ways primary elections are just as important if not more important than the general election. 

A lot of people make the excuse that they don’t vote because they don’t like either of the choices.  Or when they do vote they say that they are voting for the lesser of two evils.  They vote AGAINST someone instead of voting FOR someone.  Both scenarios could be remedied by more people voting in the primary election.

Currently the more extreme candidates on both the left and right tend to get their party’s nomination because the people who vote in the primary tend to be more extreme in their views.   They tend to be more active in party politics. And they show up for primary elections when the general public, that are not as tuned in to politics stay home.  Therefore, candidates with more moderate views tend to be left behind. 

I believe some changes need to be made when it comes to how we vote in the Primary. Ranked choice voting could help prevent as many extremists from getting nominated.  Ranked choice voting is already being used in other states with mostly positive results. There are variations of how it works, but generally speaking, you would rank in order the candidates you want to see elected.  Your first choice would get more points than your second or third choices.  But then all the points would be added up until one candidate received over 50% of the vote.  This tends to make campaigns a little less nasty as the candidates would at least like to be considered your second choice. And if the campaigns are a little nicer, voters won’t be as likely to hate the choices they have in the General Election. 

Open Primaries might also be another way to elect less extreme candidates to run in the General. 

Either way I do believe that we need to take a serious look at how our Primary Elections are run and work together to make changes that benefit the greater number of citizens and not just the minority active in party politics. 

But as we celebrate Law Day, let’s make sure we also celebrate Primary Election Day.  Be an educated voter.  Study the down ballot.  Vote for candidates willing to work with others to try to solve problems.

While politicians tried to get you to believe that not having voter ID was a problem, the real problem is with not having voter IQ.  Be an educated voter and encourage your family and friends to be the same.  And whether you fill out an early mail in ballot, or go to the polls on election day, please participate in this great experiment of Democracy so that we can continue to celebrate Law Day for generations to come.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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