WRCB’s Jonquil Newland on Monday reported that there is either a coordinated crossover conspiracy in Rhea County’s state House election, or there is a coordinated effort by election workers to zealously thwart what they perceive as a stealth crossover plan.

The TBI’s findings may be interesting, but in the meantime, can we just let people vote? There is no way to tell whether or not a citizen has had a sudden—or slow-building—change of heart. We don’t need the political thought police enforcing a false sense of partisan purity. This is true in GOP primaries in Rhea County, or Democratic primaries in, say, Clarksville.

When people have a choice as to who speaks for them in government, let them make it. It’s not healthy to allow a single group to dictate a region’s representation.

Else we could close primaries and take them off the taxpayers’ bill. Let parties vet their own nominees. Or we could implement a “top two” system. There are other options.

Or maybe we could just brand people on the forehead with a ‘D’ or an ‘R’. Better yet: do it at birth.