In a move that is sure to alienate Republican voters all across the state of Michigan, the Michigan GOP is looking at scrapping the Michigan Republican open presidential primary in favor of letting approximately 5,000 elected precinct delegates and vetted party officials vote for the candidate in a closed caucus or nominating convention.

Although no decision has been made yet, Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo told reporters last week, “Those discussions are happening now actively as we speak.” The Michigan GOP’s state central committee is meeting this weekend for the first time this year and Karamo says that they will be the ones who will decide if we have a primary or if another plan is adopted.

Currently, Michigan Republican precinct delegates and party officials already pick candidates like Secretary of State and Attorney General…But letting them pick the presidential nominee is a bridge too far for me. And I am saying this as a former precinct delegate who went to a state convention in the past and was able to vote for Ruth Johnson to be our Secretary of State.

The Michigan GOP has no business cancelling out the primary presidential votes of Republicans across the state of Michigan. Although many grassroots Michigan Republicans have been against Michigan’s open primaries for a long time, a closed caucus is not the answer. I don’t want precinct delegates and party officials picking our candidate any more than I want the Democrats to do so.

Speculation about why a closed caucus is being considered is that it would make it easier to make sure former President Donald Trump gets the nomination – but the same might be true in an open primary. That’s if Biden has no real competition (or another Democrat comes in with no real competition). That would allow Democrats in the state to be involved with something similar to Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” where he asked Republicans to cross over and get involved in the Clinton/Obama primary.

If the Democrats were to get organized and involved in an Operation Chaos event in Michigan, they’d probably pick Trump overwhelmingly because the Democrats see him as the candidate easiest to beat.

So what’s really needed in the state is a CLOSED PRIMARY where you can only vote for a candidate in the party that you are registered for. It’s the answer to the problem of actually letting the Michigan voters pick the candidate that they want without anyone else’s involvement.