Under Attack

Democracy is under attack, and calling out the shifty, shady ways political parties are taking choice away from voters is essential.

It’s very much an issue at the national level, for so many reasons. Not least of which, the House of Representatives — with the full support of Republicans, including 1st District U.S. Representative Nick LaLota — approved a measure last week called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE Act, which would make it much harder for any American to register to vote.

Seeking to weed out ballots cast by noncitizens — something that happens so rarely it’s not worth fretting about — new voters, and anyone who moves or changes their name (such as when a married person takes a spouse’s last name), would have to provide proof of citizenship: a passport, a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license (in some states) or a nondriver government ID, or a birth certificate, for example. It’s purely designed to discourage voting, especially among some groups, and the fact that it’s likely to die in the Senate doesn’t make it less concerning.

But don’t think that only Republicans are bad-faith actors when it comes to small-d democratic values. In fact, last week’s revelations in Southampton Town are worse, both because they will succeed, and they will have an immediate effect on town voters’ choices in the fall.

To recap, three of the six candidates for town office were stripped off the ballot abruptly last week. Voters were spared the sight of “Leonard-Bernstein” bumper stickers, which surely would have been collector’s items, and there won’t be a challenger in the supervisor race. The Democrats benefit from the latter, the Republicans from the former.

By all appearances — and, according to insiders, those appearances are accurate — the political leaders cut a deal. It seems to involve the Democrats, Republicans and Conservative Party, but the Working Families Party also appears to be in the mix. In other words, backroom deals are setting the fall ballot, not primary votes.

What appears to have happened is that the special election in March became a “winner-take-all” event — John Leonard lost to Rick Martel, so the Democrats agree to drop Leonard and Willa Bernstein, their declared candidates, from the fall ballot. Tom Neely will be added, but he will go up against two incumbent Republicans in a two-seat race.

This is patently unfair to voters. It’s also not fair to John Leonard, who lost a race by six percentage points in which only 11 percent of all registered voters in Southampton Town participated. If, as it appears, he was removed by Democratic Committee Chairman Gordon Herr, that’s far too much power in one unelected man’s hands.

Ironically, Leonard was Herr’s pick for both the special election and the fall ballot — and there was grumbling behind the scenes from many Democrats, including some in elected office, that it seemed to amount to a one-man decision.

Without question, there is a long history of such shenanigans in Southampton Town, but rarely has it been so transparent, despite the public denials, amounting to “who are you going to believe — me or your lying eyes?” Voters should be furious about the arrogance, and political committees should demand better.

This fall, there will be three candidates for two seats on the Town Council, one candidate for supervisor, one candidate for highway superintendent, one candidate for judge, and a surprising challenge to Town Clerk Sundy Schermeyer, though it seems like a serious long shot.

If you’re a Southampton Town voter, your ballot just got gutted. The entire process up to last week was smoke and mirrors. There are bigger forces at work, and they’ll decide who serves in Town Hall, not you.

Democracy is endangered, and it’s not just in Washington, D.C. — it’s happening right in your backyard.