Freedom of association is the right to join or leave groups of a person's own choosing, and for the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of members. It is both an individual right and a collective right, guaranteed by all modern and democratic legal systems, including the United States Bill of Rights.
Freedom of association is primarily manifested through the right to join a trade union, free speech or debating societies, political parties, or any other club or association such as religious groups, fraternities, or sport clubs. It is closely linked with the freedom of assembly, particularly under the US Bill of Rights. More specifically the freedom of assembly is understood in a political context, although depending on the source (constitution, human rights instrument, etc.) the right to freedom of association may be understood to include the right to freedom of assembly.
While the United States Constitution's First Amendment identifies the rights to assemble and to petition the government, the text of the First Amendment does not make specific mention of a right to association. Nevertheless, the United States Supreme Court held in NAACP v. Alabama that the freedom of association is an essential part of the Freedom of Speech because, in many cases, people can engage in effective speech only when they join with others.
But in many cases of ballot access or opening the primary process, I think the courts have over extending this right.
This right gives a political party and its members the right to decide who their officers are and what issues they represent. But that could be handled by giving a registered party voter a separate party ballot during the primary process.
The selection of presidential, congressional, and state candidates, is the right of all registered voters, regardless of party or independent status. And since these taxpayer voters payed for the running of the selection process, their right to take part is being blocked, and isn't that "Taxation Without Representation"?
Political parties used the "Private" entity case, giving them the right of association, so if they want a closed primary system, they should pay for running this system. So they could reimburse the state, like some states allow, for the printing of the primary ballot, rental of the polling site, rent of the equipment, and the cost of the poll workers. Or they can run and pay for a separate selection process to select their candidates, before an open primary.
A better way would be to eliminate primaries and just have a General Election.
Louisiana uses this method but has a run-off. I would add Rank-Choice Voting to their system, so the voters only have to vote once. In thier system, candidates get on the ballot with either collecting signatures or paying a filing fee.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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