In a first, US independent turnout tops Democrats, ties Republicans, Edison Research says
In a first, US independent turnout tops Democrats, ties Republicans, Edison Research says
Self-identified independents accounted for a larger share of voters in Tuesday's U.S. presidential election than Democrats and were tied with Republicans, Edison Research exit polling data showed.
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Don't kill me, but I actually registered as a Republican so I can vote in their primaries and other elections, and have a say in who gets elected instead of choosing the Democrat that will get voted out of my Republican state.
Of course, recently, I've always voted blue unless the Dem is a massive jerk for some reason. Registering as a Republican doesn't stop me from doing that.
I'm stuck as a "Republican" until the next primary. Ohio automatically registers you with the party of the last primary you participated in and doesn't allow changes or revocations other than choosing a different primary next time.
If I'd known that ahead of time I wouldn't have bothered with my pointless protest vote against Trump in this year's Republican primary. I have never, and will never, voted for a Republican in a general election, but as far as they're concerned I'm a card carrying member that needs to be on every mailing list they can think of.
The fact that closed primaries are a thing is absolutely ridiculous.
If primaries are closed, the parties should pay their full cost.
In my state, independents can vote in any party's primary. There's basically no benefit in registering with a specific party.
It bears repeating: “unaffiliated” != “independent”. And that confusion is not helped by the fact that the media calls unaffiliated politicians “independent”, and that there’s ALSO an “American Independent Party” that you can register for.
On your registration, if your state has semi-open primaries, you need to pick “unaffiliated/no party”. You should NOT pick “Independent” (note the capital I), unless you specifically mean to.