WA State voters must declare party affiliation for vote to count ??

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: seagull

I am trying really hard not to use the C word in regards to the current crop of democrats but they seem intent on forcing us to say it.

They are all pushing communist ideals...Why not call it what it is...Would you call a pedophile something different just because he doesn't like the name???

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
a reply to: ronjer

Wait . I'm confused.

Is this law making it so that a dem that wants to vote for a repub potus can't do so?
And a repub can't vote dem?

No, a Registered Republican cant vote in the Dem PRIMARY, and vice-versa. The oft repeated rationale behind it is, especially in years like this when the GOP candidate is unchallenged and the GOP primary is an exercise akin to naval hazing, a large number of conservatives and Republicans could opt not to vote in the GOP primary but instead go over to the Dem primary and muck things up royally by casting a large number of votes for one of the Dem candidates most likely to get shellacked in the general election, for example a large number of GOP voters might vote for (taking the high road here... fill in whichever DNC candidate you wish) to give them enough votes to beat the candidate most voted for by only legitimate Democrat party stalwarts.

a reply to: Iscool

mainly cause at this stage its a buzz word and will impede actually being able to have a dialog.

That's the main problem I have with using that word.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

I should have just read the article. lol

Yeah florida does that

a large number of conservatives and Republicans could opt not to vote in the GOP primary but instead go over to the Dem primary and muck things up royally by casting a large number of votes for one of the Dem candidates

Both sides would. Party people only really want one thing. Whether it's good for the country or not, they want to win.

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
Both sides would. Party people only really want one thing. Whether it's good for the country or not, they want to win.

True, in 2016, open primary states had some issues with liberals voting in the GOP primary for Kasich in an effort to block Trump from the nomination.

I have mixed thoughts on open vs closed primaries. On the one hand, I appreciate the freedom of open primaries, on the other hand, I can definitely see benefits to keeping those just looking to cause trouble out of the process.

a reply to: ronjer

I don't really have any so-called 'party' loyalty; so, just to theorize: if I lived in Washington State, would they allow me to write-in my own party for loyalty on my ballot, or would they keep a monopoly over the parties allowed to write-in too?

Probably I would just make up my own new party of 1 on the day of election, and why should that be disallowed?

Who cares? Voting is a sham anyway.

originally posted by: NightSkyeB4Dawn
I live in Florida and I am an Independent, so I cannot vote in the Primaries either.

www.miaminewtimes.com...

Since primaries determine who you get to vote for, this disenfranchises quite a large part of the population.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
Both sides would. Party people only really want one thing. Whether it's good for the country or not, they want to win.

True, in 2016, open primary states had some issues with liberals voting in the GOP primary for Kasich in an effort to block Trump from the nomination.

I have mixed thoughts on open vs closed primaries. On the one hand, I appreciate the freedom of open primaries, on the other hand, I can definitely see benefits to keeping those just looking to cause trouble out of the process.

To be fair, is it not possible that those Democrats who voted for Kasich in the primary, did so believing he was the furthest left and center of the candidates in the GOP? I ask this since that is exactly what I did in 2016 primary.

At that point of the election, the Democrats only had Clinton and Sanders, both we're repugnant to me. The GOP was all over the place and I really thought Trump was a joke at that point of the election.

I actually feel some shame for voting Kasich in the primary. Afterwards, his true nature became more apparent and I was horrified. I then researched the third party candidates more and found them to be rediculous. My only saving grace was voting for Trump in the general and am thankful that he has proven to have been the best choice after all.

Edit add: also, I agree the primary ballots should just be one ballot. Include both DNC and GOP candidates. What is so hard about checking only one box in a column of choices, thus being able to select across party lines in regards to local, county, and state representation?

a reply to: Fowlerstoad

I can answer this!

Because there are tax payer resources used, the only requirement for allocating those dollars for YOUR (made-up) party and its primary would be a set of actions and thresholds as set by lawmakers in your state. As stated by Burdman (I believe), primaries are not a requirement, nor are they even necessary. This is all about perceived choice and control- voters mistakenly believe that we live in a democracy, and feel all warm and fuzzy when they get to vote for who they are going to vote for in the general election. If you were to collect enough signatures, submit them to your Secretary of State, and file the requisite paperwork, then you can have your own party, and so forth. This is done to prevent wasting taxpayer dollars on some crazy guy who thinks his made up party/candidate/platform deserves the same attention as the ones that at least (fill in threshold here) people want.

You can, however, write in a candidate, but differing states have differing rules on how they might allocate their electoral delegates after the election is complete. For example, in the Plurality states that are now agreeing to send all delegates to the candidate who gets the most votes, they are locking in the two-party system, forever eliminating even the Green Party from having any impact in their state.

Did that answer your question?

a reply to: schuyler

By virtue of having to select what party I am a member of(which would be PERJURY on my part), they have allowed themselves the freedom to "misplace" all of the Republican ballots that they want. I just made my own box on the right of the envelope, checked it, and said that I identified as an Independent. They, by LAW, HAVE to count my vote, last I checked. Since when do I have to declare what party I'm affiliated with, when I'm not affiliated with either?

TheBorg :-|

ETA: I am probably wrong on the above, but that doesn't take away from the principle here!! Is it true that because I didn't select R or D that I won't receive a ballot for the election this fall?

originally posted by: schuyler
Not exactly. All it says is that you must choose either a Dem or GOP ballot. If you choose GOP all you get to vote for is Trump. If you use the Dem ballot, you get the whole bevy of crackpots to choose from. Your only declaration is that you won't vote a Dem ballot, then go to the GOP caucus to "choose" Trump. This year it doesn't matter, but in previous years it would prevent you from voting in the primary one way and going to the caucus of the opposing party and vote that way as well.

The idea is that the Dems get to choose their party's nominee and so does the GOP. This is an attempt to hinder cross-voting, a time-honored tradition in Washington (State) The idea here is to vote for the weakest DEM candidate in hopes of advancing him to the General election where he will get trounced.

BUT THERE IS NOTHING PREVENTING YOU FROM VOTING A DEM BALLOT IN THE PRIMARY AND VOTING FOR TRUMP IN THE PRIMARY. So this won't prevent cross voting at all.

The only time this would really be a problem is during a primary where there are lots of issues and people on the ballot. If your favorite candidate for Dog Catcher was a Dem and your favorite candidate for County Coroner was a GOP, then this method would force you to vote on only one ballot IN THE PRIMARY.

The fact that you submitted a ballot is tabulated, but the actual ballot is separated from your name before it is counted, so NO, YOUR NAME IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE PARTY YOU VOTED FOR.

This is a non-problem.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, because I'm a canadian and honestly haven't got a clue here. But in the first paragraph you state.

All it says is that you must choose either a Dem or GOP ballot. If you choose GOP all you get to vote for is Trump. If you use the Dem ballot, you get the whole bevy of crackpots to choose from.

But later you follow it up with.

The fact that you submitted a ballot is tabulated, but the actual ballot is separated from your name before it is counted, so NO, YOUR NAME IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE PARTY YOU VOTED FOR.

And I'm left wondering how this is not a contradiction. If you are being forced to register for a party, and thus are being given a limited selection of candidates to choose from as a result. How is that not an invasion of privacy? And thus a problem?

a reply to: ronjer

I live in Washington and I can't wait to get OUT!

It's such a pit-hole of BS.

Talk about filthy bastards in the Gov here - we voted for $30 car tabs (instead of your left arm or first born child) and they'll not even implement it and last I heard they're trying to overturn it or ignore it or re-voted or whatever... (I have to stop listening as it makes me so freakin' mad).

Now this? Does it surprise me?

Nope.

*sigh*

This happens about every election. Someone can't figure out the difference between the election and the primary.

In the US, we have elections mainly between the Democrat and the Republican candidates. That's the real issue, but it's hard to fix because it requires so much money to campaign nationwide. There's precious few individuals that have that kind of money, and less that want to spend it for the privilege of being attacked 24/7 by a bunch of lying pundits. So we have two major political parties. Donors contribute to the party they like the most (hate the least) and that money is used so that party's candidates can run a campaign.

The question then becomes, who decides who will represent a party?

That's the primary. Joe Biden, for instance, is not running for President against Bernie Sanders. Joe Biden is running for the Democratic nominee for President against Bernie Sanders. If he wins, he will then run for President against Donald Trump (the Republican nominee). To be completely honest, Donald Trump isn't running for President yet either. He is also running for his party's nomination... he just doesn't have much competition from other Republicans. His name will still be on the Republican ballot (and I believe some other Republican names are there as well).

Come November, there will be one ballot with all candidates on it. No declaring party; that is illegal in the actual election. It's not illegal in the primaries because the primaries are supposed to be for party members only to choose their nominee.

In Alabama, it works like this: you walk into the polling place (usually either a prominent church building or a popular business), you show your photo ID to the guy or gal at the door, and they look your name up on the voter rolls. When they find it, you sign your name beside it and move to the next table. There, a guy or gal will ask you if you want to vote Republican or Democrat and hand you a ballot (last several elections, if you say Democrat around here, they have to put the Republican ballot down and get a Democrat ballot... yeah, Democrats are that much out of favor here). Then you walk over to a table and fill out the ballot. When you're done, there's a ballot reader and a fellow who is happy to help you if you need help inserting the ballot. The display will add 1 to the number voted, the fellow will hand you a little sticker that says "I Voted!" and you leave. There's no record of which ballot you chose, just that you voted. You also don't have to be registered to a party to vote in the primary... it's just a verbal declaration at the time you vote. That's good for me, because I'm registered as an Independent.

The general election is the same, but the guy or gal doesn't ask you which ballot... there's only one.

You'll get your one-ballot chance to split your vote in November. Until then, this is not the general election; it is an election within the political parties themselves.

TheRedneck

a reply to: seagull

What's next, you have to join the Party in order to vote, at all??

Isnt that exactly what it states or am I misreading ?

voters will have to say

say to whom ? And why would you assume it is factual if it's just down to "saying". Maybe you'll have to show a party card or something. That would be ironic. Party card but no ID is necessary.

As a member of a political party, I not only don't mind this, I wholeheartedly endorse this for the PRIMARIES, which is what this article is referring to.

I do not want my vote, choosing which member of MY PARTY is going to represent me in the general election, to be cancelled out by a person who is NOT a member of my party. I do not want non-party members choosing my party's candidate.

Years ago, Rush Limbaugh used to encourage his listeners to go out and vote in the Democratic primaries to sabotage the candidate selection process. He called this "Operation Chaos"

In late February 2008, Limbaugh announced "Operation Chaos," a political call to action with the initial plan to have voters of the Republican Party temporarily cross over to vote in the Democratic primary and vote for Hillary Clinton, who at the time was in the midst of losing eleven straight primary contests to Barack Obama. Limbaugh has also cited the open primary process in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, which allowed independent voters to cross over into the Republican primaries to choose John McCain over more conservative candidates (such as Fred Thompson), as an inspiration.

I believe a closed primary is the best way to move forward.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
*sigh*

This happens about every election. Someone can't figure out the difference between the election and the primary.

No kidding. Preach it, brother!

In the US, we have elections mainly between the Democrat and the Republican candidates. That's the real issue, but it's hard to fix because it requires so much money to campaign nationwide. There's precious few individuals that have that kind of money, and less that want to spend it for the privilege of being attacked 24/7 by a bunch of lying pundits. So we have two major political parties. Donors contribute to the party they like the most (hate the least) and that money is used so that party's candidates can run a campaign.

The question then becomes, who decides who will represent a party?

That's the primary.

Exactly. LISTEN TO THE REDNECK, FOLKS!

You'll get your one-ballot chance to split your vote in November. Until then, this is not the general election; it is an election within the political parties themselves.

Yes.

Sheesh. Maybe they'll listen to you? I sure hope so.

originally posted by: MarioOnTheFly
a reply to: seagull

What's next, you have to join the Party in order to vote, at all??

Isnt that exactly what it states or am I misreading ?

To vote in the primaries. They don't want Republicans choosing the Democrat candidate and vice-versa. Independents probably don't want Dems or Repubs choosing the Independent candidate.

You are talking about the primaries. Members of the democratic party get to choose who their candidate is, republicans get to choose their candidate. There is nothing stopping the libertarians, independents, ect putting forth their own candidates to choose from, is there?
Sorry, but I dont remember ever getting to vote for the president of the ski club in high school either... because I wasn't a member??

If they were smart they would declare Republican and protect the country like voters did in Kentucky last night.

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