Some major decisions will be made in San Antonio this weekend. Some may impact next year's elections, requiring people to register a voter's political party with the state.
Thousands of delegates to the Republican state convention may recommend "closing" the Republican primary election, allowing only registered Republican party members to decide their nominees for offices.
Thursday more than 4,000 delegates walked into the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in downtown San Antonio. Most delegates NBC 5 spoke with supported the idea.
“I am supporting of closing the primary to only Republicans," said Betty Cardenas, a delegate from Lubbock.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Texas currently has what's called an "open primary," meaning you don't have to register your political stance with the state or the government. Registered voters simply show up on Election Day and pick which primary they want to vote in.
In the March primary, roughly 4%, around 100,000 people, who voted in the Republican primary voted in the Democratic primary in the past, according to Derek Ryan, a GOP data and voter analyst.
A common tactic for the minority party in non-competitive areas is to pick the "least bad" candidate from their point of view.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Most other states have a closed system.
“The Republican Party is a private party. We believe we have a right as a party to do that," said Brady Gray, a delegate from Parker County and the local GOP chair.
Gray is his area's member on the party's legislative priority committee, helping create the list of recommendations they want lawmakers to make reality next January.
Closing the primaries would essentially lock out independent voters from the process until the November general election. They'd have to register for one of the major parties Gray said.
"I think you got to declare. If you live in a county where you don’t have any independents running, you’re going to have to pick a side," said Gray.
Most races in the general election in the state are not competitive. So the decision over who wins is usually made in the primary election and a small number of total voters usually make those decisions.
“It does all depend on how it all comes out. I’ve seen pros and cons both ways," said James Dickey.
Dickey is a delegate to the convention and the former party chair, Dickey, told NBC 5 on Thursday that he hasn't made up his mind on the issue because closing the primary would also mean Republicans in very Democratic areas will get the same treatment. He lives in Travis County.
“If the state goes closed primary, Republicans won’t have much of a say," said Dickey.
Whatever the delegates approve will likely see a legal challenge but the idea may become law when legislators return to Austin nearly next year for the next legislative session.
