In a one-party state like Alabama, voters loyal to the minority party have the ability to participate in the majority party's primary in statewide elections.
It allows those Democratic voters to have a say about who will be the ultimate officeholder in any particular election, given that the general election is often nothing more than a formality.
In 2010, some credited Democrat voters with giving Robert Bentley a victory over Bradley Byrne in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary runoff, which led to Bentley becoming governor.
Since the 2010 episode, crossover voting is not allowed in primary runoff elections in Alabama. But since voters in Alabama are not required to register with a party prior to voting, there is no mechanism to prevent so-called "crossover" voting from happening in Republican primary elections because Alabama has open primaries.
During an appearance on Huntsville radio WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show," U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville), who will face former Business Council of Alabama head Katie Britt in next month's GOP senatorial primary runoff election, accused Britt of soliciting Democrat votes in Tuesday's primary. He argued she might attempt it again in the runoff.
"No question," Brooks said. "Katie Britt had an activist effort, kind of behind the scenes, to encourage Democrats to crossover and to pollute our Republican primary. People need to understand -- Republicans are the ones who are supposed to determine the Republican nominee. That's what the First Amendment is all about, freedom of association. And I hope all Republicans who want to protect the value of our brand, who want to stand together as a political party will reject what Katie Britt has done in actively soliciting Democrats to participate in Republican primaries.
"That happened yesterday. It will probably happen to some degree on June 21 when we have to runoff. That's not right. The Democrats should never be participating in Republican primaries and vice-versa. But we'll see how Republicans across the state react to Katie Britt's outreach program that is coming to greater and greater light. By outreach program, I'm talking about getting Democrats to tamper in our elections."
Voting results from Tuesday's primary show that Britt carried 62 of the state’s 67 counties.
Britt spokesman Sean Ross reacted to Brooks' allegations.
“This, of course, is not true, but we expect Congressman Brooks to say these kinds of desperate things,” said Ross. “That’s what do-nothing career politicians do — they’ll say anything to save their taxpayer-funded lifestyle. His problem on May 24, as will be the case on June 21, was that Republicans clearly know that Katie Britt is the best candidate to defend our Christian conservative values and fight for the America First agenda.”
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com.
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