Can someone please explain to this Canadian

[shadowlight]

Why you register as a democrat or independent etc.
Do you have to register party affiliation in order to vote?

[BlueJac]

1. No, not at all.

[ironman202]

2. in some states you have to be registered with the party

in order to vote in the the primary

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. I think it is as much about keeping people from crossing lines in

primaries as anything. But I am sure there is more to it.

Do you guys have primaries and caucuses up there?

[shadowlight]

Up here you have to be

a member of the party to vote for the leader of the party.
Much like your primaries I would imagine.

[Canuckistanian]

12. We have leadership conventions and that's it

There's none of this criscrossing every province in order to secure votes.

Conventions usually last about 5 - 7 days, then the new leader is chosen.

And crossing lines? Well, the delegates in a convention need to have their credentials from the local party organization. It's a pretty small crowd, although lately, Liberals in particular, have been signing up huge masses of minorities, suddenly, in blocks, in order to push through their favorites.

But people from other parties? Practically unheard of.

[shraby]

4. Only for primary elections as far as I know

They don't ask party affiliation at the regular elections, just hand out a ballot.

[HereSince1628]

14. And if you don't partake of the primaries you miss most of US democracy

Because once it gets to the national election its about who counts the votes not who is voted for.

[Lerkfish]

5. Varies by state. In Ohio, you have to register as one to vote in primary

of that party.
So, in other words, I am a registered Democrat. I cannot vote in the republican primary.

[KamaAina]

6. Only in primary elections, and even then not in all states

Elections procedures vary widely between the various states (think Fla. in 2000 and Ohio in 2004). In all states, you may vote in a general election without declaring party affiliation. However, most states restrict primary elections to registered members of the party.

The few states that have "open primaries" are mostly Southern (notably Ga.) Then there's La., where all candidates of all parties run in an open primary. A candidate who receives 50% plus one is declared elected, or if there is none, the top two finishers go head to head in a runoff election.

[Sanity Claws]

7. Some states you don't have to register, even to vote in a primary

I've lived in a few different states and know that in NY, you must register in order to vote in your party's primary.
In Washington state, you don't have to register to a party in order to vote in a primary.

[TechBear_Seattle]

18. Not quite true: ALL states require you to register, even Washington

But some states (like Washington) do not require that you register by party.

Voter registration laws started being put in to effect around 1880. It was not until about 1926, however, that every state had some kind of voter registration requirement. To some extent, these laws are an effort to protect the vote against fraud. Linking a voter to a specific list at a specific polling place makes it much more difficult for someone to vote twice. It also makes it much easier to exclude people who can not vote, such as non-citizens and convicted felons who have not been restored to the franchise.

The idea behind partisan registration -- requiring voters to declare allegiance to a specific political party when they register -- is to give the parties a list of sympathetic voters that they can canvass when selecting candidates for office. It also helps prevent political opponents from supporting fringe candidates that will make their own candidates look good by comparison.

The reality, however, is that voter registration laws have served to enshrine the principle of the Two Party system in American politics. Most states have very strict requirements on what parties are allowable to select on a voter registration form, and it is next to impossible for alternate parties to get well-known enough to breat through those restrictions. Until the beginning of the 20th century, third parties have routinely made a different at all levels of American politics. Since 1900, however.... Even the successes of the Libertarian, Reform and Green parties in the 1990's and 2000 election were nothing compared to the success of third parties such as the Republicans (created as a third party in 1854 to oppose the Whigs; their first candidate for President was Abraham Lincoln), the Progressives (in 1912, Progressive candidate Theodore Roosevelt got 88 Electoral votes while Republican candidate William Taft got all of 8; in 1924, Progressive William LaFollette won 13 Electoral votes and 16.6% of the popular votes), even the Socialists (in 1912, Eugene Debs got 6% of the popular vote for president; compare to Ralph Nader getting 2.7% in 2000.)

While some southern states unified briefly behind racist parties -- the Dixicrats in 1948, the American Independents in 1968 -- it would not be until 1992 and billionaire candidate Ross Perot that third parties again had an impact on the race for President. But Perot's 18.9% of the 1992 popular vote did not translate to electoral votes, and third parties had a much smaller impact in 1996, 2000 and 2004.

[tabasco]

32. Ross Perot would be infinitely better than Bush.

Primarily because Perot really has good intentions.

Bush is corrupt to the core and I don't think he even denies it to himself.

Great post!

[CTyankee]

8. Great question!

I think it has to do with each state law. In CT I have to register as a Democrat to vote in the Democratic primary. In some states, I think you can have "crossover" voting in primaries (So that as a Democrat I could vote in a Republican primary and vic versa). I don't know what would happen as an Independent. I guess if I registered as an Independent I wouldn't be able to vote in the Democratic primary (or Republican for that matter). In the general election, everybody registered can vote.

[eallen]

9. It varies from state to state.

[merbex]

10. You don't have to register or identify as a affilated with any party in

order to vote. However some states require Party affilation in order to vote in a primary. Also some states allow open primaries

I register or identify myself as a Democrat because I believe in what the Democratic Party professes to fight for:people.

[shadowlight]

11. Thank-you all

[troubleinwinter]

13. I am in California

and am officially registered as "Decline to State" (a party affiliation). I refuse to be 'counted' by any of the fuckers. But it is an inconvenience, because I cannot vote in primaries.

Sometimes I think I'll register with a party, but then cannot see why I should do so. Let em work for my vote, not take me for granted.

[shadowlight]

15. with whom did you register

"decline to state"?
Who asked?

[troubleinwinter]

17. I am officially, duly registered with my County Registrar

of Voters as "Decline To State" (party affiliation). Have been registered this way for 12 years or so. I am not required to be affiliated with any party for any election except a party primary.

My husband built the new county elections office 8 years ago, and one of the women in the office said, "Hey, Tony, how come your wife isn't registered with a party?" He said, "Well, she's a Black Panther."

Happily, we have a great elections office where we use paper ballots, optical scans, careful audits and random hand counts. Not only random counts, but any citizen can call for a hand recount of a precinct and it gets done.

[Cleita]

16. No, you can register as an Independent or other minority party,

but you can't vote in the primaries for the main candidates, the ones most likely to become elected, unless you register with one of the two main parties.

[troubleinwinter]

22. Hey, Cleita...

'Independent' is a party, isn't it?

But yes, I think you have to be Republican or Democrat to vote in a primary.

So a Green or Independent or whatever is in the same boat with me as a registered 'Decline to State'? I am not registered with ANY party at all.

[Cleita]

25. I really didn't know you could do that.

Back in the Jurassic period, registering Independent meant that you had no party affiliation. Color me stupid not knowing that Independent is a party. What are their ideals? It seems to have evolved into a political dump of some sort. LOL

[troubleinwinter]

28. Check this out:

The California voter registration form: https://ovr.ss.ca.gov/votereg/OnlineVoterReg

You can choose:

American Independent
Democratic
Green
Libertarian
Natural Law
Republican
Peace and Freedom
Other (specify)
I Decline to State a Political Party

I have been the last entry for 12-15 years. I figure it aint nobody's business but my own!

[shadowlight]

30. so they do ask you

your party affiliation.
that seems strange to me.

[troubleinwinter]

31. Well yeah, they do ask...

but you can "decline to state", as I do. You are not required to be in any party to register to vote.

BUT, in order to vote in the Primary Election, that is, to select among Demos, if you're a Dem, or among Repubs if you are a Repub.... you must have registered in that particular party.

Examples: In the primary, if I were registered Dem, I could choose between Dean, Kerry, etc. If I were registered Repub, I could choose between McCain & busHitler, etc. to run as the party candidate in the General Election.

In the primary, you can only vote within the party you are registered with.

In the general election, everybody can vote for anybody, whether they are registered with a party or not.

[TechBear_Seattle]

33. Again, it depends on the state

In Washington, we have three "major" political parties: Republican, Democrat and Libertarian. A party is classed as major if, during or since the previous gubernatorial election, it ran a candidate in a partisan race with a statewide vote (President, US Senator, Governor, Sec. of State, etc) with said candidate receiving at least 10% of all the votes cast for that office. All other parties are classed as minor parties.

The new and very unpopular primary system that has been forced on us -- twice -- requires primary voters to select one of the major political parties and vote only from that slate of candidates. Voter registration is non-partisan, so any voter wishing to participate is allowed to vote any of the major party primary elections. The choice is made when it is time to vote, either by getting a single ballot with the three slates on them (and you indicating which slate and which candidates on that one slate) or by getting three ballots and turning in only one. If you are confused, you ain't the only one. Not even our elections officers seem to have a clear idea of what is going on :thumbsdown:

Minor parties, such as the Greens and the Progressives, chose their candidates in an open convention, where all registered voters who live in the jurisdiction of the elected office may participate. Since the courts have repeatedly ruled that open candidate selections are an unconstitutional violation of a right of association, lawsuits are pending.

[Snotcicles]

19. Some of us are proud and like to showoff.

[troubleinwinter]

23. And I support you a kabazillionbillion percent!!!! To each his own.

[Snotcicles]

24. Stealing that Andy image, K?

[troubleinwinter]

27. PLEASE DO steal it!

I done made it myself! That is little "Ballot", Andy's puppy, and he is a 'paper ballot', made out of the Constitution!

[carpetbagger]

20. Never for general elections, sometimes for primaries.

Primaries are usually run by the government by the rules of the state parties, caucuses usually directly by the parties. Some are "open" in which any voter can vote, or even cross party lines to vote in the other primary, some are "closed" to party members only.

You can't vote in both primaries, and some places have additional restrictions (for example, I signed a petition to get Wes Clark on the ballot in my state's democratic primary, so I could legally only vote in that party's primary and caucus).

[pitohui]

21. to vote in yr party's primary you do EOM

.

[shadowlight]

26. ok, for my next question

in the run up to the 2004 election there was lots of talk as to whether dems should mail in their ballot (can't remember what this is called) as opposed to voting on the machines.
There were stories that if you did this the election office (?) would know if you were dem or repub and the dem ballots may just get thrown away.
Do you know of this?
How would they know?
Do you mail it in an envelope that says "registered democrat"?

[troubleinwinter]

29. No, there is not an indication of party on mailed ballots.

I will tell you this, though.... I register as an "Absentee Ballot". They mail it to me. I fill it out at my leisure, then on voting day, I drive down to my polling precinct, sign the book and place my PAPER BALLOT it into the ballot box.

It works nicely for me... I don't stand in lines because I have my PAPER BALLOT filled out, and I see it go into the box (I choose not to mail it).

Our county also has "McVote". First county to have a drive-through window where you can pick up and/or drop your ballot, no matter what your precinct is.