Alabama’s primaries have come and gone, but some in the state want things to change once they come back around.

At the moment, Alabama is an open primary state, meaning all voters are given a choice of either Democratic or Republican ballots when they arrive at the polls. A closed primary only allows those registered in a particular party to vote in their respective party.

Chair of the Alabama Republican Party, Terri Lathan, explained to AL.com on Monday why the state’s GOP leaders want a closed primary. What better way to get a point across in the Heart of Dixie than getting those people to imagine something that stirs up their feelings more than anything?

The Iron Bowl.

“We live in a very football-analogy state,” Lathan said. “Can you imagine if the University of Alabama team got to pick the Auburn players? Or the Auburn coaches got to pick the Alabama players? The governor would have to call out the National Guard. It could be that serious.”

Point taken, and the fact that she had to make a football analogy to get people to understand how serious an issue is within a presidential election is the reason why we all say football is king in the South.

Alabama is currently one of only 16 states that still conducts open primaries for presidential elections.