Independents: If You Can Vote in Any Party Primary?

[RMNIXON]

I am curious because we have so many of you on the board and the big news in New Hampshire's Open Primary seems to be the Independents behind Obama and McCain.

So the question would be if you were able to Vote in an Open Primary what Party and why?

You don't need to say "who" you would vote for. I don't even know that myself yet!

[Linzyhop]

i am an independent, but i did register republican last month so I can vote for McCain in the Mass primary... and i was told shortly after that, that Mass has open primaries too.

can anyone verify that cause i thought you could only vote party affiliation.......

[David Octavius]

I'm trying to figure it out too I am pretty sure NY is closed primaries or else I would vote. I could see myself voting for either McCain or Obama

[RMNIXON]

Different States have Different Rules:


Types of Primaries:

• Closed. Voters may vote in a party's primary only if they are registered members of that party. Independents cannot participate. Note that due to the appropriation of the term "independent" by some political parties, the term "non-partisan" is often used to refer to those who are not affiliated with a political party.

• Semi-closed. As in closed primaries, registered party members can vote only in their own party's primary. Semi-closed systems, however, allow unaffiliated voters to participate as well. Depending on the state, independents either make their choice of party primary privately, inside the voting booth, or publicly, by registering with any party on Election Day.

• Open. A registered voter may vote in any party primary regardless of his or her own party affiliation. When voters do not pre-register with a party before the primary, it is called a pick-a-party primary because the voter can select which party's primary he or she wishes to vote in on election day. Because of the open nature of this system, a practice known as "raiding" may occur. "Raiding" consists of voters of one party crossing over and voting in the primary of another party. Although no cases can be shown where this has happened successfully, the theory is that opposing party members vote for the weakest candidate of the opposite party in order to give their own party the advantage in the general election.

• Semi-open. All voters may vote in any single primary, but must publicly declare which primary they will vote in before entering the voting booth. Typically this declaration is accomplished by requesting a ballot. In many states with semi-open primaries, election officials record each voter's choice of party and provide the parties access to the information.

• Blanket. This system allows voters to vote for one candidate per office, regardless of which party they were a member of.

• Run-off. A primary in which the ballot is not restricted to one party and the top two candidates advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. (A runoff differs from a primary in that a second round is only needed if no candidate gains a majority in the first round.)

Primary election - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


New Hampshire is Semi-Open.

I like the ability of Independents to Vote in any Primary because their votes are growing in importance in all elections and the Parties need an indicator where they are going in order to win general election. I don't like crossover party voting in primaries. It invites partisans in one party who have a locked candidate to tamper with the selection of a close race in another party.

Just think if Hillary had a lock for the Democrats how many would love to back "Huckabee" because they think he is a sure loser in a General Election?

The Media sure does!

[Ardentfrost]

I live in an open primary state. I'm an independent. I'll be voting for RP on Feb 5th.

[RockPusher]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

I live in an open primary state. I'm an independent. I'll be voting for RP on Feb 5th.

Is it too late to become a delegate for Ron Paul in your state? If not, you may wish to register Repuglicken to shape the race. In WA state, dems cannot vote in the primaries, so a lot of WA dems register repug to vote for the most appealing repug.

[6SpeedTA95]

Every state is different. In oklahoma the two party system has a lock thanks to corrupt politicians rigging the system. Here you can only vote for your party. If you register independant you can't vote in the primaries.

[RockPusher]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Every state is different. In oklahoma the two party system has a lock thanks to corrupt politicians rigging the system. Here you can only vote for your party. If you register independant you can't vote in the primaries.

I can see no reason to NOT register as repub. In fact, I would say register as repub, vote in the repub, then re-register as a dim and vote for the dims too.

Why not participate in the election process?

[Ardentfrost]

it takes a month for registration to go through. Today was the last day in my state you could register to vote in time for the primaries

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

it takes a month for registration to go through. Today was the last day in my state you could register to vote in time for the primaries

Ron Paul is going to need to draw Independents to get anywhere, so as long as you can Vote it counts.