“What, me worry?” – Alfred E. Neuman

Voting was a breeze for my wife and me in last Tuesday’s primary election.

We entered our polling place in Opelika and waited in line for a minute, at most, before we reached our poll workers who provided our ballots. We had ample space to sit down and bubble in our choices.

I should be satisfied the experience went off without a hitch, and I completed my civic duty in such an efficient manner. Yet, one of my few natural talents is the ability for Pat Sajak to tell me I just won a new car and immediately become anxious about how I am going to declare it on my taxes.

The reason it was so easy to vote was because the voter turnout was abysmal. In Lee County, the voter turnout was a shade under 15 percent. The state average for turnout was 21 percent. One silver lining is Randolph County’s turnout beat the state average, coming in at 22.7 percent.

When nearly 23 percent voter turnout is considered exceptional, maybe it is time to reassess how we are doing things. These numbers would be even lower if we were to consider turnout under the entire voting age population which includes adults who are not registered to vote.

Now, let us acknowledge a few points about this election. The political race at the top of the ballot, in this instance the presidential primary with Joe Biden on the Democratic ballot and Donald Trump on the Republican ballot, is usually the main driver of voter turnout.

Everyone knew Biden and Trump would be selected as the nominees of their respective parties. Having those races all but decided before the polls even opened obviously was the main factor hurting turnout.

Throw in some yucky, rainy weather and only two of Alabama’s seven congressional races being remotely competitive and we have a good recipe for election apathy stew.

So where is the part I tell you this is just a blip on the radar, and we will soon get these low numbers to rise dramatically? Beloved reader, that comforting news is not coming.

Even in our most competitive presidential primaries, like 2008 and 2016, we have only gotten to a little beyond the 40 percent mark.

If we look at the structure of primary elections, there are multiple ways to conduct them. There are closed primaries which require a voter to declare a party preference when registering to vote if that voter wants to be able to vote in the primary elections. Voters who do not express a party preference may only vote in the general elections in November.

Alabama runs an open primary system where each voter declares to the poll workers at the polling site if the voter wants to vote in the Democratic primary or the Republican primary. If no candidate receives more than half the votes in any race, there must be primary runoff between the top two vote getters.

My solution for increasing voter turnout in primary elections, in general, is to institute a nonpartisan blanket primary. All candidates from both parties are listed on the primary ballot, and voters can choose the candidate they prefer in each race regardless of party affiliation. The top two vote getters in each race go on to the general election in November.

Want to vote for a Democrat in the governor’s race and a Republican for chief justice of the state supreme court? Go right ahead. You may even end up with two candidates from the same party facing each other in some races in the November election.

Some people worry about this not being fair to the party who does not get a candidate on the ballot in some November races. I argue it puts more importance on getting people out to vote in the primary election to make sure their preferred candidate makes the ballot in November. This should boost turnout. It also eliminates runoff elections in which voter turnout is usually even more dreadful than the primary turnout.

While this could be helpful in most races, the flaw in my plan is it would not help in presidential primaries as national party rules in selecting delegates have requirements that would not allow a nonpartisan blanket primary to work. There would have to be a separate primary to choose presidential candidates, and a few states do go this route.

So, for presidential primaries maybe I should just accept 21 percent turnout, and live my life. It will allow me more time to think about that inevitable income tax audit.