- Anything Else -

register D or R? I'd advise against it!

Posted by: Floyd ( Frances Farmer Cabal, Unit Shifters Anonymous ) on June 20, 1999 at 14:05:39:

In Reply to: I need help people: should I register as a democrat or republican? posted by Shaun on June 15, 1999 at 23:36:57:

: Hi everyone. I think I am going to get registered to vote and from what I understand, you have to register as either as a republican or democrat, regardless who you plan on voting for.

Actually, there is no requirement (to my knowledge) anywhere in the states that says you have to register for any particular party at all. The primaries are "in-party" elections, where the two parties choose the candidates they want to represent them in the general election. In order to vote in the Republican primary, you have to be a registered republican, and the same is true of the Democrats.
This has no real, direct bearing on the general election however, it only decides who will be running. In the general election, you can vote for any candidate at all, regardless of your party affiliation. That is, if you're registered Demo. and you want to vote for Peace & Freedom or the Greens, or whatever, it's ok to do so.
Unless you're interested in who the Dem. or Rep. candidate in the general election is going to be, I can't see much point in choosing a party affiliation at all, since the only thing it effects is your eligability to vote in the two major primaries.
However, this practice has created some interesting loopholes. If you are a hard-core Dem. it might be in your best interest to register as a Rep. since, regardless, some Dem. candidate will be running. This would allow you to vote in the Rep. primary and to cast your ballot for the least electable, most whacked-out candidate running, and thus hurt the rep.s chance against the dems in the general election. Naturally, this leads to a system of double-agency that tends to ballance out, since there are equally as many reps as dems doing it.
Myself, I make up party names (E.G. Raging party, T.V. Party, Toga Party, Donner Party) when I register, just to see if anyone at the county courthouse is paying attention. Then again, I usually make up joke candidates to write-in vote for as well, since it really doesn't make a difference, the pro-government party always wins. I think Max E. MacUlpa and Robin D. Richman are my choice for Discordian party 2000 candidates, but McS, I'm partial to Cthulhu's platform. I think a dead giant psychic octupus-headed evil god may just be what America needs right now!
-Floyd

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